


The Worst Betrayal

by Vintage_Crows



Category: Star vs. The Forces Of Evil
Genre: Death Threats, English translation, M/M, Violence
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-01-22
Updated: 2019-01-24
Packaged: 2019-10-13 12:40:04
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 17
Words: 62,848
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17488217
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Vintage_Crows/pseuds/Vintage_Crows
Summary: Marco Diaz is kidnapped and Toffee asks Star Butterfly to destroy her magic wand for him, but in the decisive moment she doesn't do it despite the fact that her best friend is threatened with death.Fandom : Star vs. the Forces of Evil.Couple:Toffee x Marco (video of fanart on Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jRl3FlxiJQ8)Toffee x Marco 2 (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7hieeb2XmUA&t=4s)Toffee's past:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aYAhwEerNLI





	1. 1

**Author's Note:**

  * For [minimamente](https://archiveofourown.org/users/minimamente/gifts).
  * A translation of [La peor traición](https://archiveofourown.org/works/5953779) by [minimamente](https://archiveofourown.org/users/minimamente/pseuds/minimamente). 



> Since this isn't my writing, I'll only be updating when the the original author updates. However, for now enjoy the undoubtedly weirdest (but surprisingly good) pairing I have ever seen (this is fanfiction though so I'll probably encounter even weirder soon).  
> Good evening to all,  
> ~Vintage_Crows

'The Worst Betrayal'

~Evil appears in different forms, it is not always the ugly face of the story~

When Star came into his life, Marco Diaz knew that his life would stop being so peaceful, not only because of her effusive personality but also for the fact that his new friend had very powerful magic in the form of a wand and had villainous monsters going after her to steal her powers.

However, he never stopped to really think as to what extent this new friendship would affect his life.

Adventures, monsters, magic and travelling to other worlds is what he could expect and be half prepared for.

From the time he had known Star, he had learned many things from her (some really strange and disturbing such as her adolescence) as well as things from her own world. He knew she was a princess, a different one from the standards of conventional and conservative royalty. She liked fighting monsters, going on adventures and exploring new places. She was innocent in many ways but was at the same time imprudent.

Sometimes her characters could clash, Star was often stubborn and did not listen to reason, she could be very childish and stubborn and was also not very interested in learning how things worked on Earth (for her, most things that did not have a simple explanation, like for example how the toilet worked, had the answer that was simply "magic"). Even so they were very good friends and he practically considered her a sister and Marco thought that Star considered him the same.

Of her world, he did not know much about except that it had very dangerous places like the forests, they lived in what he compared to a kind of middle age kingdom apart from the fact they had real magic, and that in their history there was a colonization that seemed a little suspicious in its details. He tried to study his friend's book a little more but it only exaggerated the triumph of the inhabitants of Mewni, deep down he felt that several pieces of that story were missing, besides that he could not help but feel some pity for the monsters portrayed in the stories.

His parents had instilled in him the real history of his native country. Even though he was born in the United States, his family was of Latin descent (specifically from Mexico) and he knew that many times history was very unfair to the losers. Great civilizations and knowledge lost by the conquest of the indigenous peoples. To think that remotely those monsters came to experience something similar seemed ironically coincidental as well as sad.

But that was in the past,happening hundreds of years ago compared to how he's living today.

Now he had other things to worry about, such as the fact that he had ended up being kidnapped by Ludo's henchmen and a lizardman, which proved to be much smarter than Ludo and his previous attempts to take Star's wand.

Just seeing him in his elegant lawyer suit gave him a bad feeling.

It was only a matter of time before Star arrived to rescue him by attacking all the monsters around him. Inside his glass-walled cell, he watched his friend attack monsters left and right, disabling her opponents while casting powerful destructive spells at his cell, which although seemed made of fragile material was harder than anything that they have seen or knew of.

Another thing that surprised him was seeing her fighting alongside Buff Frog as her ally, or so it seemed, since he beat his own companions and helped Star by covering her back.

It was a day of surprises but this would not be the biggest one.

There was a point at which Star started to become more serious, none of her previous attacks had managed to even make a scratch in Marco's cell. It was frustrating, partly because she could not get Marco out and on the other hand that her magic did not work against those walls that did not bend before any of her spells.

Something strange happened when she concentrated on her last attack, the hearts on her cheeks and her eyes shone as well as the star of his wand. There was a moment of silence while everyone observed the change in Star.

Marco barely had time to duck when a new beam of magic hit the walls of his prison, this time succeeding.

This seemed to be the end, now they just had to escape from there and ... Star had thrown him to the floor in a fit of emotion.

"Sorry. I was excited. Let's go! We have to get out of here." The blonde extended her hand to help her friend stand up, but none noticed how the walls were regrowing until it was too late.

The boy's arm was caught in the wall in a death grip that urged him to pull it back in before that glass or whatever it ended up cutting his arm off. Marco was still trapped inside the cell.

Star growled annoyed ready to try again with a new spell or try that last one, whatever she had done before that had managed to break that thing. If she managed to do it again, she would break it but she was not sure what she had done. Before she tried again, one of the monsters managed to capture hugging her from the back and out of the corner of her eye she saw Buff Frog on the ground. Although the situation was unfavourable, she would not give up.

"Stop"

However, she would not have to kick or deal any blows, since that Toffee guy who had thrown Ludo from his own castle had stopped his henchman, which had released her with the gesture from that lizard.

"That is not the way to treat our guest of honor." Toffee rose from the floor and reseated at the table next to him.

Toffee knew that Mewni's princess was impulsive but he at least thought that she would come up with a better plan than to charge in screaming and casting spells. One of these spells had literally hit him head-on and blown off one of his arms, nothing that his regenerative powers couldn't solve, just concentrate a little and in a matter of seconds he had a new arm.

The pain was a small sacrifice he had to accept in order to fulfill his objective. He had been patient for this long.

He was not like Ludo or any of the villains that Star and Marco had faced. He grabbed the controller on the table and he pushed a button on it, instantly the ceiling of the cell that contained the human began to descend to the ground. Taking into account that he was still inside, this meant being crushed to death, only remaining as porridge.

"No, no, no, no, no!" This wasn't fair, Star had been so close. Marco in a moment of desperation tried to stop the ceiling's descent with only his own hands, which was absolutely useless. "Stop, stop, stop, stop!" Remembering that Star still had the wand in hand she positioned herself again to launch a spell, but Toffee's soft, calm voice stopped her.

"That will not work again." Toffee took off his tie and placed it on a mannequin, then sat down at the table. "That crystal is now twice as strong," he calmly informed the princess while letting the chicken man accommodate his seat and he gave the giant fly a scathing look as he tried again to place those ridiculous cushions in his seat.

"Don't worry Star. I think I have it." Marco was the same if more desperate than his friend, but still he tried to keep calm and made a small attempt to calm his friend with his words.

He could try with all his strength but the ceiling kept lowering more and more.

He was not a monster. He had neither super strength nor magic. He was just a simple human and at this moment that revelation weighed down on him almost as much as the weight of the ceiling that was crushing him to death, but that did not mean he would surrender .

Star jumped onto the table and looked directly into the cold and reptilian eyes of that monster. She would do everything possible to save Marco. It was her fault in the end that he ended up trapped here afterall.

If he wanted her family's wand, he could have it. Although deep down, she thought with hope and a certain calculation that things would turn out well. Once he stopped crushing Marco and let him out, she would take care of kicking Toffee's scaly butt and recover her wand, save the day and return to her life on Earth with her friend's and family.

One more victory for Star Butterfly against her fight against the bad guys. Being the heroine once again. Believing to do the right thing.

"I agree then. Take it." She let go of the wand on the plate in front of her enemy. He might have won this time but she would not let herself show collapse, loss or defeat, she had her pride after all," Now let Marco out."

In a short amount of time, she could see Ludo trying to jump on the table to snatch the unprotected wand, but as fast as it happened the chicken man took him inside its beak like a small worm.

"Do you think I'm like Ludo?" asked the reptilian man giving her a slightly irritated look at the mere idea of such a comparison with that pathetic villain. "Swallow him," Toffee ordered the chicken man who in a couple of movements finished swallowing his ex - boss .

Toffee stretched his right hand out but didn't touch the wand. He just pushed the plate in front of the feet of a surprised Star.

What was going on? It was the question that more than one person asked in that room.

"I do not want your wand. Destroy it," Toffee calmly explained, finally revealing his true objective.

"What?" Marco and Star had the same reaction.

This was something completely unexpected, unthinkable, Star almost recoiled at the mere mention of destroying her family's wand. It was the most valuable object of the royal family, which had remained for generations and generations for each princess and queen of her family.

Surprised, Star for the first time let her emotions flow sincerely in her expressions. Toffee could not help but smile with all his sharp teeth and sharp eyes just looking at the bewildered and lost look of Princess Mewnideana. That in this case it is allowed to feel like an achievement but enough of the smiles. He returned to his serious features to continue his dealings with the princess.

"I can't. I don't even know how."

"Yes, you do know it. It's the first spell that your mother taught you." After that, Toffee could see a somewhat desolate expression on the face of the blonde in front of him.

"The spell of the whisper."

"Exactly ... Marco is waiting."

Star turned her head to see her friend still struggling against the ceiling and practically being crushed to the ground, he had an astonished and desperate look. Star had never seen a look like that before or maybe she had, but not from someone who cared .

"Star?" Marco whispered to his friend.

Marco knew that what he was asking of Star would be a difficult sacrifice. He felt guilty if he had been more alert these monsters would not have captured him and Star would not have to give up her wand.

The girl's eyes were crystallized with tears that were about to fall. She fell on her knees in front of her wand and took it in her hands.

"I'm sorry," she moaned as a couple of tears ran down his cheeks, "I'm sorry Marco, I can't."

"Star?!" With those words something inside Marco broke, perhaps some of his bones being compressed against the ground. However, it was also deep inside him, in his chest that wasn't his ribs as he tore apart.

Marco looked directly at his friend almost disbelieving of that decision. She really ... would she really let him die for her wand?

"Disappointing." The only one not surprised by that decision was Toffee, not only had he been patient to get to this point of his plan, but he had also mentally prepared himself in case this had happened.

Honestly, he would have been delighted with more favourable results. The princess cornered and defeated doing what is asked of her, saying the only spell capable of literally killing the magic of her wand in a noble act to save her precious friend. He also knew the consequences of this, to kill the magic of the wand would cause a chain reaction creating an incredible explosion annihilating everything for miles around, so choosing Ludo's castle and his henchmen had been the best decision. There was nothing around and nobody that would miss these good for nothings. He could be a villain in this story but unnecessary sacrifices were not in his plans, unlike other people.

Though that was expecting too much from someone of Mewni's royalty. At times, he thought that the Star Princess would be different, but obviously she was from the same rotten tree encrusted with jewels as her family.

Well, he was a highly trained person, so him having a plan B was not a surprise. If he could not push the little princess to eliminate her wand, he would have to resort to more drastic methods, eliminate the carrier. Eliminating the last descendant was actually plan C, capturing her and having the queen say the whisper spell was plan B, but he was not in the mood at that moment to deal with an entire army and a queen obviously much more stubborn than her own daughter so it would be much harder to push her to kill the magic of the wand and even with her daughter threatened with death she would not give her arm to twist so easily.

Killing the princess would bring many problems, but selfishly it would also bring some relief. Without more descendants, that damned lineage would no longer have royal bearers to do shit with that magic wand, killing the little daughter of the king and the queen would be a good revenge too .

"Well, say goodbye to Marco," the reptilian man offered to talk to her friend again.

Star turned to see her friend who stared at her with his eyes not just filled of despair but also of pain, not only physical but emotional. He looked betrayed, sad, as if his eyes became two dark and deep pools without brightness.

"No!" She looked away and hugged her wand. This shouldn't end like this. "Let him go now!" demanded the young princess.

"I told you my terms Miss Butterfly," Toffee waited a second, maybe this capricious princess would do what he wanted or maybe not. He studied her face again, that was the face of someone who would do something very imprudent.

Since when did Star Butterfly let her enemies tell her what to do? Or any other person?

In a quick movement, she shot again against Toffee. It would show him how strong she was. She would defeat him and she could rescue Marco but she had to act fast, or else ...

Toffee moved quickly easily dodging the narwhal ray, this girl had to learn a couple of things. He overturned the table while throwing the blonde to the other side of the room but thanks to her quick reflexes, the young woman did not suffer much damage.

"Ughh!" A moan of pain was heard in the background.

Marco could no longer breathe. The pressure on his body was getting worse and he could not help but shed tears of pain, frustration and sadness. This would be his end?

Toffee looked at the human. His eyes reminded him of many years ago of, a sad past where hundreds of creatures suffered the cruelty of heartless tyrants. Well, at this point he could admit that he was not much better than them but at least he did not deny it, pretending to be better or something else using pompous dresses or deceptive glances.

The human could be considered a naive victim of what appeared to be Mewni's royalty like many others before him.

Toffee turned his head a little more and there he found the first and only real hindrance that was in the castle, Buff Frog. He was not surprised to find him there but what was on him was.

"What ... an interesting surprise my ex-colleague," he took a small step closer to the little luminescent tadpoles, about a dozen had if he had counted right, "Is it bring your children to work day?"

"Get away from my babies!" Growled the monster with the face of a toad and horns on his head. It was well known that this species of monster had strong, protective paternal instincts.

Ludo's former best man stretched out his arms and picked up his tadpoles throwing death glares at the lizard that never inspired him from the beginning.

Toffee never liked this subject equally (partly because he could admit that he was a potential threat in his plans) but also because of his sincere devotion and loyalty to Ludo at the time, someone who could only be described as a little duck.

"I suggest you leave, or your babies could be seriously injured. A battlefield is no place to bring your children," he said more out of courtesy to the children than by any hint of appreciation for that bag of walking garbage.

"Grrrr!"

Toffee took the controller in his hand, the same one that had caused agony in the human and pushed a small button at its side.

"I'm serious. The battlefield can be explosive," he made a grimace that could pass for a small smile as the controller in his hand began to whistle and shine.

"Star run!" Buff Frog shouted at the girl when he noticed what Toffee really had in his hands. A bomb. After that, he started to run. He had to take his children to a safe place.

"Buff Frog?" Star was slow to understand what was happening. Why was her ally fleeing like this? "Bomb!"

Not only did she look alarmed at Toffee but also all the monster henchmen around him. Is this part of the plan?

"Gentlemen, it was a pleasure," the words of the blue-grey scaled man sounded like a goodbye, which alerted everyone as well as that beep to what was happening.

They had to leave immediately or they would not live to drink another milkshake in their life.

While monsters were fleeing and screams were heard, Star watched the dark smile that formed on the face of Toffee while the device began to shine in his hands.

A powerful light flooded the place and a loud explosion occurred. The next thing Star knew was that she was surrounded by rubble, dust and ashes. By self-reflex the princess had used her wand and created a shield to protect herself from destruction.

Ashes, dust and debris was all that surrounded her. The monster minions had fled as well as Toad Bull with her tadpoles too. Toffee had stayed to watch the show so he was probably part of all the ashes that surrounded her. Now she was alone and…

"MARCO!" She ran to where her friend's cell had been.

There were only four crystals that had been found in the corners of Marco's cell and a floor made of that seemingly unbreakable crystal. However, there was no trace of the brunette.

"Marco! No, no, no, no!" she began to beat at the floor in despair before doing the same to the roof of glass.

This was not happening. This definitely shouldn't be happening.

Marco wasn't here but he should be. If only ...

If only she had done what that lizard wanted. Marco would be with her at that moment but it was not like that and Marco was ... was she on Marco or ... what was left of him?

Before the grotesque idea took hold, she got up from the place she was kneeling and looked with horror at the place she had been hitting.

"No, this can not be true. Oh Marco, I'm sorry, I'm so sorry." Star collapsed and she cried like she's never cried in her life. She didn't hear the neighing or the galloping of the unicorns' hooves and horses approaching. Nor did she hear the voices calling her by her name until her father dismounted and approached her grabbing her by her shoulders.

"Star? Sweetie, what happened?!"

"Dad? What are you doing here?" Everything seemed so unreal. She had just finished processing everything that was happening and there was her father in front of her. When had he arrived?

"The Diaz's called me using your mirror," her father explained to her. His daughter seemed to be in shock. Something, he had already seen in warriors after a traumatic and exhausting battle. He himself lived it in some of his first adventures.

"Mr and Mrs Diaz!"

Oh no, no, no! The Diaz's who had been so good to her from the very first day, how would she tell them?

"Star, dear. Where is Marco?" one of the knights asked mounted on a war unicorn had a very familiar voice. "Dear, I'm Mrs. Diaz," said the rider taking off her helmet and looking worriedly at Star.

At her side, a gentleman also removed his helmet proving to be Mrs Diaz's partner and the father of Marco.

Seeing their faces, the guilt overwhelmed her in the form of a weight in her chest, that reminded her how great the consequences of her actions had been. Not holding it in anymore, the princess of Mewni began to cry while hugging her father tightly.

Because of her, she had lost her best friend. Because of her, the Diaz's had lost their beloved son.

* + * + *

~ Kindness and understanding are sometimes found in the most unexpected places ~

Marco's whole body and head ached. When he opened his eyes, he found himself in a dark place barely illuminated by dim light.

Where was he? What had happened?

He looked at the side of his bed, which didn't really feel like his bed and saw a very strange lava lamp. He focused his eyes more and what he really saw was not a lava lamp but a bottle with a similar figure that was full of little firefly-like insects next to his bed.

He sat up despite the fact that his body was screaming in pain at him to lay back down and stop moving but he could not stay here. Wherever here was.

At this point, it was clear that this was not his house and probably not even his dimension if the insects gave him any sort of clue.

When he found a door, for a moment he feared that it was locked but when turning the knob it opened at the first attempt. When leaving, he did not find himself in any dungeon or prison but just a simple wooden house and some rustic-looking furniture that at the same time gave an elegant effect with windows that filtered a dim light from outside.

He arrived at the entrance door or what was the main door of the house.

" I'm definitely not in my world."

In front of him, he could see a porch that served as a small dock that was very practical if you took into account where the house was because this place seemed to be in a swamp like those that appeared in documentaries of wildlife or films where the protagonists were attacked by giant crocodiles. However, this was not any swamp on earth as the water was a different colour and although they had a certain air similar to terrestrial plants, many of them were in different colours and had much larger sizes. 

It was a bit creepy like Mewni's forests but the light of sunset and those firefly-like insects flying from one side to another gave it a somewhat beautiful appearance.

"Good afternoon. I did not expect you to get up so soon."

Marco quickly turned his body to find the lizard man who had captured him again.

"You!"

Toffee was sitting in a chair leaning against the wall of the marsh hut. Next to him, there was a small table with a glass bottle filled with a cloudy liquid and a small glass to serve it in. Some marsh water from the west of Mewni was refreshing after a tiring day.

Toffee could've let the human die in that cell, crushed by the unbreakable ceiling of his prison. Instead, he had removed it just before the bomb had exploded and brought him to one of his hiding places. He had previously mentioned making unnecessary victims of his plans but the death of this human would not bring any benefit to them apart from a burden of guilt and emotional torture to the princess of Mewni, but so was his momentary disappearance .

He saw the boy try to put himself in a combat position but quickly had to grab his abdomen with a gesture of pain.

"I suggest you relax. It's not every day that you are crushed by a roof."

"Why should I calm down with my kidnapper in front of me?"

"I must inform you that I do not have you as a hostage as you already fulfilled that role and we both realized that it would not work. Star Butterfly made it very clear with her decision."

The memory of his friend ... no, friends do not let you die like that. Well, he was alive but at that moment he felt that Star had let him die. She had made a decision and it was not him. Of course not. She had chosen to keep her wand,. Her magic while he had been slowly crushed until his possible death, remembering that hurt much more than any physical wounds he had in his body at that time.

All the good times, the happy, the fun, the adventures and the annoyances were overshadowed by Star's last decision.

A part of him tried to be understandable as in the majority of the time he was with Star but this was not like the times when her lack of understanding of earthly culture or her imprudence got them in trouble. This had been his life. It could be said that this had been a difficult choice as the wand had been a family heirloom, it had powerful magic and obviously she had grown very attached to using it to the point that there were days where she did nothing without using its magic to do so.

However, she had chosen the magic of the wand over her 'best friend'.

He felt so sad, so bad, so disappointed, so ... What could he call this?

"If you want a bit of human comfort, you were not the only one who was betrayed or damaged by the royalty of Mewni," commented the reptile seeing how the sea of sadness and disastrous emotions easily emerged through the features of the young human.

"What?"

Or maybe that's the word he was looking for. Betrayed. That's how he felt. He had trusted Star, had done many things with and for her and cared as much for her safety as his own or perhaps even a little more.

When he met her, he thought she was a strange girl, much more so than all the exchange students who had once had to live in his house. He also thought it would be problematic, but then he decided that it would not be so bad and even took it very seriously to help her adapt to her time on Earth.

He felt so lost. Sad, he took a few steps to the small dock and sat on the edge. He did not look at the peaceful view of the marsh or the fireflies around him. His dull gaze did not look at anything as he went over and over again what had happened in his mind.

Toffee looked at the human and could feel pity and even a hint of empathy for the boy, but nothing more. Although, the boy at this time reminded him of when he was young but he would never admit it and it was many years ago. Now, he had to dedicate himself to planning a new strategy and with a cooler head he could admit that blowing the castle up was a bit hasty as with the magic of the wand it was obvious that the princess would be saved easily. Except with this, he had gained some time by making his enemies believe that he had died, well, until the human returned to his world and told them that he was still alive.

He took another good sip of fermented marsh water, because of its degree of toxicity it was considered as some alcoholic drink for some creatures.

The results had been disappointing but he did not feel really defeated. He had only expected too much from the capricious and selfish princess. What more could be expected from Mewni's self-proclaimed royalty?

For a moment, he thought Star would be a little different from her ancestors.

He stopped and went into the house. He would leave the boy with enough freedom to try to escape as that really did not matter to him now. If he was clever enough, which with his time observing Star on Earth and her refuge it was obvious that the boy had some degree of intelligence, he would find a way out of the swamp to one of the humanoid settlements where he could ask for some help or find a way to return to his world. Right now, he had to think about what his next moves would be.

He took his time inside the cabin reviewing old annotations for some schemes of possible viable plans according to the conditions at the moment. That someone of royalty, especially the current princess carrying the wand, had left the castle to inhabit another world with so few defenses had been one of the most favourable conditions so far in years, centuries in fact.

After his last plan, he would have to see what the reactions of the king and queen would be and act accordingly. They could decide to still leave their daughter on Earth, they could decide to move her to another kingdom, they could also choose to return her to their home or there was even the possibility of sending her to the reformatory school for capricious princesses, St Olga's.

Near midnight, he decided to take some fresh swamp air but he was not expecting to meet the human out there in the same position and place where he had left him. At this moment, Toffee thought about the limits of the swamp with some scratches of his head.

He approached the human and was about to offer him in a gesture a cut back to his dimension. Being at his side, he could see his face and the slight moisture on his cheeks that has shown he has been crying. It was obvious that he was still vividly affected by what happened.

"Since when did you plan this?" Marco asked before Toffee could speak.

The question surprised him a little as he did not expect the human to ask him about his plans at this time.

"Ludo's last attempts seemed more thoughtful than his usual attempts to attack Star. It was for you right?"

Toffee knew that the boy was smart but he did not expect him to be equally as observant so much so as to come to that conclusion on his own.

Marco had been thinking for hours, just thinking so much that he did not care when it got dark or the air in the swamp turned a little cold. He thought not only about what Star did but also about all the time he had lived with her as well as Ludo's attacks on Star.

"What did the Butterfly family do to you?" 

It wasn't 'Why did not you want the wand?' or 'Why did you want to destroy it?'. This question went directly to the origin of the problem. This boy surprised him a little.

Toffee had the option of not answering. He did not owe anything to the boy but he decided to tell him some history. A true story and not ones full of lies as in the books abound.

"When the supposed first inhabitants of Mewni came to these lands believing they had the right to call her that, they found it already inhabited by other beings very different from them. They considered them inferior creatures, barbarians without brains. There were certainly some that fit with those characteristics but there were others who were clearly of a similar or even superior intellectual capacity than them. However, they were different as they had claws instead of fingers, fangs instead of teeth. They were not pleasant to the sight of the noble conquerors. They were monsters."

Marco looked at the lizardman beside him. Toffee did not look back and looked at the swamp as he had been doing a few moments ago. Actually, Marco had had his suspicions ever since Star made them interpret Mewni's independence day. The guy next to them was just confirming them.

"There was a queen with her court and her village of peasants disembarking and settling in the most fertile lands and in the least hostile too but obviously they had to expel the "pests" as they began to call the original inhabitants of those places. Small villages, tribes and families of creatures that were not better adapted to the other environments inhabited those meadows and forests less dangerous, obviously tried to fight but outnumbered and threatened with steel and metal weapons (something they had not seen before) most were killed and forced to flee. Of the survivors of these towns, the other monsters learned of this hostile invasion and they began to ask if their forests would be following, if their families would suffer the same fate. Some debated going straight to battle and expelling the invaders or sending someone to question their intentions. Meanwhile the colonizers made their houses and castles on the lands they had stolen from their former owners."

Marco could already conclude by the cold tone of voice and a sharp look that this story was very personal for the narrator. It was understandable as he was talking about the history of his people, his world, like when he talked about their conquests, about the Europeans arriving in America, not doing things very different from what Toffee was telling him. He also felt sad and hurt by that kind of past.

"There were fights and there were attempts of negotiation but for them we were still simple monsters. We did not have the same rights just because they decided it. There were so many deaths on both sides that it was more loss than gain. Both sides began to reflect that if this did not stop soon there would be nobody left to inhabit Mewni so it was decided that both parties were to go to the limits of a forest, a neutral place to negotiate. The queen had lost more than half of her army, so she brought more than half of the peasants who accompanied her in the colonization as part of her escort. On the side of the monsters, they decided to be fair and not bring weapons knowing that they were facing civilians and leading their group they chose the wisest and strongest. They would be in charge of negotiating with these invaders to stop all this killing but surprise, it had all been a trap. It was known that the queen had magic but not how strong she was or what she could do, so no one expected her to turn her peasants into the strong soldiers of her army in a matter of seconds and heavily armed from head to toe. The scales were quickly tilted into the queen's favour with her new soldiers in front of a group of surprised and unprotected monsters. Maybe you have already been told about that day, they know it as Mewni's independence day however we know it as the day of the monsters' massacre, literally that's what happened. So, the queen won and the surviving monsters had to deal with the defeat and try to survive in their own land treated with scorn by the invaders. There was always in a thin latent tension in which if one day the monsters would remember their glory days, they would obviously try to regain their lands and perhaps that is why they took the present princess to earth. Their constant hostile dealings with the monsters were causing what generations of queens had tried to prevent from happening again, a bloody war, but this time are more modern times. Obviously, their allies with other dimensions would look with down on them if such a story were to repeat again."

"Would it?" asked the human surprised by the story and that Toffee had talked so much and with this came many answers as well as doubts. When he received the cold look of the narrator, he knew that his question had sounded as if listening to the massacre of an entire civilization was not important, which it was, "I mean, I know what happened is horrible, even on Earth very similar things happened, not between monsters and humans, that is what Star and her people are, but between humans, more advanced civilizations dominating the Indians of the conquered lands, but surely centuries have passed and revenge of the royalty for something that happened through an ancestor is to carry a grudge and hate too heavy"

"It may have been many long centuries ago but since I myself lived that story I can not forget it."

That was perhaps the most surprising thing Toffee had told him that night. If he was telling the truth then the lizard man next to him might have been a thousand years old or more.

"How old are you?"

"Old enough to know the real facts of Mewni's story. My father was the one who would lead the negotiations between the monsters and the queen, instead he was the first to die in the massacre."

Now the dedication in his revenge was so much clearer. Both to observe enough to kidnap him and suppose that he could be a weakness for Star as well as wait for years in search of retribution for what happened to him and his family.

It was sad but also understandable. It is not the same to think about what happened years ago without relation compared to something that you lived in your own flesh.

"I ... I'm sorry."

How much could Marco express with that simple 'I'm sorry'? He is sorry for the loss of his father, for having had to suffer a clear injustice and a massacre towards his people, for years of pain. A simple 'I'm sorry' maybe could not express all that but he still felt it.

Toffee did not expect to hear those words from the kid he had kidnapped and threatened to crush to death. Apparently, he could still receive a couple of surprises in his life.

They fell silent after that, watching the swamp illuminated by the twin moons of Mewni and the fireflies. Both had a lot to think about.

 


	2. 2

~ 2 ~

Earlier that day in the castle of the rulers of Mewni, a certain princess confronted her parents while she still remembered the faces of the Diaz parents. When she told them where Marco was now, she had broken their hearts.

Mr. Diaz, as strong and tall as he looked, was the first one to collapse and burst into tears as he just layed down on the glass floor and began to hit its surface, calling for his son over and over again with his wife later falling from the unicorn joining his side as she tried to calm him down even though she was also crying.

Perhaps for the first time in her life, Star realized how selfish she was.

She was a princess and in her world (and even other dimensions) she did not have to answer anyone except her parents. If she caused some problems, it was usually her parents who fixed it but this time there was no solution with magic or without it.

On Earth, she thought she would have more freedom. She would not have to worry about her parents constantly telling her the right way to be a princess. She was certainly sad to leave her homeland behind but she took it as a new adventure.

Supposedly, Earth did not have magic or monsters but that did not mean that it was not surprising with its things and inventions. The best thing about it was that she could freely use her beloved magic wand. Of course, she got into trouble from time to time and she could screw up but it was nothing she couldn't solve with some more magic and Marco ... who was no longer with her.

"Star," the voice of his mother took her out of her thoughts. Up on her throne with Star's father, she looked imposing as always and also cold and distant, "we have to talk about what happened today."

"But mother-"

"What happened was reckless, risky, and the consequences ... " with each word the queen was descending the steps of her throne to position herself before her daughter, "The Diaz's will never be able to recover from their loss," she muttered while standing before her only child.

"I know." Star looked at the ground feeling a new wave of tears, pain and shame invade her.

"I know that too. After all, I am not only a queen. I am also your mother." In an unusual gesture from her royal majesty, she extended her arms and embraced her daughter, "I am glad you are alive."

Star was surprised but returned the embrace. Her mother was not very given to signs of affection or to leave her impression of the sophisticated monarch, but she was grateful her mother showed this affection to her. She really needed it.

"My daughter, sometimes one must make important decisions and especially for us as the royalty in charge. Since under our mandate, we have the responsibility of an entire kingdom. As a princess, it is not only your right to carry the wand but also your responsibility to protect it and use it wisely." The queen tried to comfort Star in her own way but this only made Star feel more guilty.

She had done what was necessary to protect the wand, did she not?

She had been willing to momentarily renounce her but not destroy her, right?

Was it worth it?

She hugged her mother a little harder and cried again, that day she learned that she would have to live with the consequences of her actions.

Maybe it was not the best time, nor did it make her a better person but in fact a terrible one. However, somewhere in the chest of Queen Moon Butterfly it gave her a certain pride that her daughter protected her wand as well as she did in the face of a threat like this. Although, there was a sad loss but with this her daughter was maturing. Right now, she thought that someday Star would become the kind of ruler she expected.

* + * + *   
~ It is not always a goodbye, but a see you later, since someday we will meet again ~

Angie Diaz felt like her heart was shattered. She felt that she could die of pain in her very next breath. She was next to her husband in front of the huge rock that they had managed to get out of the ground, a rectangular piece of solid stone crowned on each corner with strange crystals, that thing had been Marco's cell. Now, it was her son's grave.

As it had not been possible to break the glass, it was decided to take the second best option and extract the place where Marco had been to then make the preparations.

Her husband was not in a much better condition than her. Rafael Díaz, despite having a somewhat rough look, had a soft heart inside his chest. His "little chicken heart" was one of the reasons why she had fallen in love with him and decided to marry later. Now, this beautiful and loving heart beat with as much pain as that of his wife.

Both had given birth to a beautiful child and as a couple they tried to raise him in the best possible way with love, affection and by instilling the values that their own parents taught them both. They also taught him about where his family came from, his history and his traditions. They were so proud of their child. Their young boy.

Their boy had grown up to be a little shy boy sometimes, a cautious and careful one too but that did not mean he was cowardly or scared just that he was a guy who thought things over before acting. He was a smart kid, one of the smartest of his age and he was also patient and tolerant as he took into account that his parents had decided to be a host family for exchange students, that they were to have a stranger from time to time with their son. However, he took the situation very well and while he did not make friends with all of them, he treated them with respect and tried to make them feel as comfortable as possible.

As he did with Star.

When they were told they had to welcome another girl into their house, they were animated as always. They loved meeting new people and then it was very surprising when they discovered that the happy girl came not from a different country but from a different dimension. In addition to that, she could use magic and as in a majority of occasions, they saw the positive side of the situation as they took it as new exciting experience.

In a short time, the Diaz's saw how close Star and Marco became as friends and they had a great time.

But now, they realized that they had been careless. At times, they thought that caring for a girl with magical powers from another dimension would not be so different than taking care of any other boy or girl they had welcomed, but for the occasional surprise of the results of Star's magical powers, such as half a dozen adorable puppies with lasers in their eyes, or that their rooms ended up turned into a jungle or water park some days.

To think how their lives would be now, tomorrow or even the next minute. Without Marco, it seems like an eternity of suffering.

" Mr and Mrs Diaz," the voice of King River Butterfly was heard behind their backs but they did not look up. They did not want to look away from that rock, as if hoping that at any moment their son would come out of it and say that everything was fine. "On behalf of my family, I want to tell you with all my heart that we are very sorry for your loss."

Rafael gave a moan and let out a small sob and Angie hugged her husband. They still did not accept this. They still couldn't.

The king moved closer to them until he placed a hand on the father's shoulder. If the same thing had happened to him as to them but with his precious daughter, he would lose all his strength.

"I also came to tell you that we will honour your son. We will do a ceremony in honour of him, one worthy of a hero,"he offered sincerely. This had been his wife's idea in consideration of the recent loss of the Diaz's, in an attempt retribution perhaps , in an attempt of consolation bringing honour to this family by treating the lost son like a hero in a ceremony where everyone would know about his sacrifice, or at least make it look like this.

"No," It was Angie's quick and resounding response, "We're going home. We just want to go home." The idea of burying her son in a place that was not his home was unacceptable.

Their son had to go back home with his family. That was the way it should be.

King River was not remotely annoyed or insulted. He would react in the same way if he were given the option of officiating a ceremony like this in a foreign place or in his own kingdom in honour of his own blood.

"Then we will help you escort Marco's remains to your home."

"We appreciate it."

That afternoon, they took the rock to the Diaz's dimension leaving it in the living room of their house as it was the only place with enough space. Seeing it in this way was like looking at a kind of coffin, which was an adequate thought as it was the container for the remains of their son.

Rafael did not leave it at any time, only Angie did for just a few minutes to get candles and one of the photos of their son. It was all they could do with the supplies they had at that time. They were there crying, praying that this was just a dream, that's how they were until tiredness overtook them and they fell asleep on the couch crying even in their dreams, so when they heard their son's voice they thought they were still dreaming.

"Mum? Dad?"

In their dreams, they heard him call them. They listened to him so closely but they could not see him.

"What are you doing here? Mum? Dad?"

Rafael opened eyelids that felt heavy as cement. Before his eyes in the almost ghostly light of the candles illuminating the room, he saw his son in front of him. Marco was not wearing one of his beloved red hoodies but one of the usual shirts he wore under them together with his jeans and favourite converts.

Was it the soul of his son visiting him to say goodbye?

"Dad? Did you fall asleep again watching old films in the living room?"

That's something Marco would say. He always was worrying about his parents or the safety of other people and then he would say something like "sleeping somewhere other than your own bed or without an enzyme blanket could make you end up with a cold".

"You should've at least brought a blanket. You could catch a cold."

Yes, that's exactly what his son would say.

"Leaving lit candles at night, although you're always very romantic with mum, could cause a fire."

Exactly the kind of things his child would say, they couldn't have chosen anyone better to be the school's security kid. 

Some parents would have wanted an athletic child and others want their first child to be an improved copy of themselves to love the same things they did and where they failed for their child to succeed. There were even parents who demanded their children to be the winners, the popular kids but Rafael did not want or expect anything like that. He loved his little one as he already was.

"Oh Marco, I miss you already," Rafael moaned, already feeling new tears leave his eyes.

If this realistic dream was a kind of farewell to his son, then he did not want it to end.

Marco looked at his dad totally surprised. It was not the first time he saw his dad cry and thanks to that he had the certainty that it was not weak to cry if the situation warranted it. In his dad's case, he cried when he saw some films, especially that Mexican movie of a guy named Pepé el Toro or something like that, but putting those tears together with the recent phrase. He did not understand what it was that had caused his father to react like this.

"Dad what happened?" Marco took his father's shoulder and it was as if his father looked at him for the first time after a long trip. His face of astonishment disconcerted him.

"Marco! It really is you!" In a few seconds, he had his son in a tight hug.

"Ughh!" If being crushed by a roof had not broken any bones in his body, his father's strong hug was sure accomplishing it.

"Dear, what happened?" Angie was waking up because of her husband's scream. Her head and her eyes hurt from crying but nothing compared to the pain in her heart, the very same heart that seemed to stop when she saw her son among the arms of her husband. "Marco? MARCO!"

Joining the strong bear hug, Angie wrapped her arms around the torso of her child, feeling like years of her life was returning back to her body after feeling the small and warm body of her son. IT WAS REAL!

"Erm mum, dad, you can stop crushing me so much. I can't breathe," Marco moaned. Was it his imagination or twas the hug getting stronger?

Both parents loosened their grip but did not move away. They both cried again but of infinite happiness because they held in their arms the son they had believed had been lost forever.

"Oh, son, you're here, you're here," repeated Angie, grabbing her son's cheeks and bringing him closer to her face and handing him kisses all over his face.

"It's a miracle," Rafael could not help saying as he now embraced the two loves of his life, his wife and son, in a new bear hug.

"I am also glad to see you." Marco concluded that since he had disappeared for almost more than a day, his parents learned of his absence and had worried greatly.

Surprisingly, the one who had returned him back to his home was the same one who was in charge of taking him away from it. After their little talk, Toffee in that calm way of speaking told him that it was time to return to his own dimension and a portal opened next to him. He didn't notice any one of its extremities, including its tail, having been holding some dimensional scissors to cut and open the portal. So Marco either missed seeing him do it, or perhaps he had been very distracted. He had been so surprised by the appearance of the recent portal that he missed it when the aforementioned tail wrapped around him in a strong grip and threw him into his own dimension, specifically in his front yard, at least he had not fallen on the cactus.

When entering the house, everything was dark except for the living room where a few candles ends were melting on what he supposed in the dark was the coffee table. He was tired so he didn't notice that it was not the coffee table but he did immediately notice his parents lying on the sofa.

Which brings us to this current moment of family reunion.

"We believed... we believed that we had lost you forever."

"What?"

"We thought you were dead!"

"What?!"

No wonder his parents reacted in this way.

"It's okay. I'm right here. I'm alive," he comforted them by returning the hug and repeating those same words over and over again. However it was not only for them but for himself as well.

Toffee had seemed like a simple villain, smarter than Ludo granted, but still looking for the same ends. It turned out that now he could not see him in the same way as Ludo or the other evildoers he had once faced. He did not forgive him for having him kidnapped or threatened with death but after listening to his story, he could understand a bit on how he had reached those extremes.

Toffee never looked for his death, only the wand.

In fact, if you looked at it in a colder way, Toffee could've acted in worse ways in not only letting him die but also going first and foremost with the plan of Star's death. Instead, he had only gone after the wand or rather the destruction of it.

This would maybe be better to more thoroughly analyse everything with his psychological background and everything else that his brain was giving him when he was more rested.

Now, it was time to be with his parents.

They fell asleep a couple of hours later on the sofa all embraced, the parents practically crushing their son with affection, fearing even in their dreams that if they let him go he would disappear from their side.

They woke up at sunrise when the puppies did not stop scraping the door to ask to go out to the yard to relieve themselves. They all slept together squeezed on the couch and though it had left them a bit sore, that did not matter to them much as the parents were prepared to attack their son with kisses and hugs and thanking God and the Virgin Mary that heir son was really with them and it had not been a dream.

At breakfast, they explained to Marco how they had learned of his disappearance.

"Then when Star left without us, we quickly started thinking what we could do to go after her and for you, and as we were in the car we realised we couldn't go after you so we decided to look in Star's room for something that would help us," Rafael explained while he finished making his famous hotcakes with chocolate chips and blueberries with bacon on the side.

"We know that we invaded your privacy but it was necessary. We remembered a certain mirror that served as a video call to speak through to people, so we ended up using it. Although we ended up talking with Star's father, we accidentally called a man with a bull face and a mermaid, I think, before we managed to do so." He sat next to his son at the kitchen table.

"It was Star's father who came for us and we went looking for you, but, but ... "

"We only found Star. She thought you had ... but you're here! I still don't know how, but you're here, it's true. What happened?" To admit out loud that they believed their son was dead would be like throwing salt into the wound so Angie did not say it.

Marco looked at his parents seeing the expectation in their faces of what he was going to say. The problem was that he really did not know what to say, or how to say it. He edged himself to go for the simplest explanation, telling the truth or at least part of it as he did not want to worry his parents more.

"When I was kidnapped, there was this guy named Toffee."

"Toffee?"

"Like the candy?"

"Yes, it sounds the same. Well, there was this Toffee guy who was the brain of this plan. I don't know how much Star told you but she came in a few hours after I was brought in there. She confronted everyone in the room but there was a moment when ..." Marco took a deep breath. Remembering what Star did brought so much pain and also rancour which was surprising for him.

For a moment, he thought of his parents in a reality where he really would have died. They would have been destroyed. He knew them well so he knew it would not be easy for them to overcome the loss.

They told him that for a long time they had tried to have children. They loved children and it one of the main reasons why they accepted exchange students. If it were their choice, he would already have a dozen brothers and sisters but because of certain issues concerning fertility and health they couldn't, until they conceived him. Her mother even risked her health to have him since during her pregnancy she suffered heart pressure problems.

He was their little miracle and they loved him so much as he loved them. Thinking of his parents crying, destroyed by his loss simply made him sick, and that would have happened if Toffee had really had murderous intentions.

If Toffee really wanted him dead after Star did not destroy his wand, the urge was just not there anymore.

"Son?"

"He said... there was a moment when he asked something of ... Star, and I thought I was going to die. And I did not ... the next thing I knew, I woke up in a cabin in a swamp. Toffee had taken me out of my cell at the last moment."

"Toffee? Are you sure about that?"

"Yes, he was there when I woke up. He just wanted me as a hostage to force Star to do what he wanted but when he saw that she would not do it, I was no longer useful for it," he saw the surprised face of his parents. It was strange behaviour, outside of the usual for someone you considered the villain. Marco shrugged his shoulders as he also thought the same.

He did not dare to say that he knew the lizardman, almost to say with certainty what his way of acting or thinking was, but he sensed that his death never entered Toffee's plans. He only the wand, which in the end he did not succeed with.

What would have happened if Star had agreed to destroy her wand?

Maybe he would not have known all the things he now knew about Mewni. Much more than he was told about in the couple of months living with this girl that he thought was  his friend. Perhaps they would regret the loss of her magic but he knew enough Star to know that she could also devise ways to entertain herself without her wand or get into trouble. Perhaps he would never have known how selfish the princess could be.

Those were too many perhaps.

"Oh son, it must have been very hard for you."

"I'm fine mum," at least in part. He was already back home and that was what mattered.

"This Toffee, does not sound the most conventional, is not everyday that you meet many good people as villains, but at least we can be grateful you did not end up as a tortilla,"  Rafael tried to joke serving his son a mountain of hotcakes onto his plate, "now The question is: What do we do with the new table in the room?"

Oh yes, the rock. When he saw the "table", he realised it was his ex-cell and it gave him a small chill. Apparently, they had removed part of the floor of Ludo's castle thinking that they were his remains, and the candles were actually mourning candles on it. Simply something chilling.

"We can try to move it to the garden, or maybe you can use it for one of your artistic projects," suggested his mother.

Rafael had an innate talent for the arts, he could take advantage of that rock later. Although, they would have to think of a good way to move it as it had taken four or six strong knights to carry it inside.

Marco took a good bite of bacon. He was at home, with his family and that was all that mattered at the moment.

~ * ~ * ~   
~ All acts have consequences ~

Perhaps black is the universal colour to express mourning in whatever your dimension you're in. At least, that was what the slight brooding Star thought while looking at the fabrics of her black dress.

She looked at herself in the reflection of the window of her family's royal carriage. Her red nose and swollen eyes indicated that she had been crying a lot and she wore a black headband like all her attire. There was nothing colourful on her as she was always accustomed to wearing.

She had not gone with the Diaz's when they returned to their house. She couldn't. She couldn't look them in the face and witness their pain if she couldn't even deal with her own. Instead, she locked herself in her room to cry. She slept until her father woke her up the next morning and told her that they would go to Earth to pay their respects to her best friend's parents.

She felt some fear with that news. She was able to face monsters and frightening creatures without her knees trembling and now she was afraid to see the family that welcomed her and treated her so well. She was afraid that those faces that always smiled at her would now look at her with their deep pain and be accused with their eyes of the current tragedy.

She was afraid to know for sure if Mr. and Mrs. Diaz hated her now.

"It's the least we can do now that their son is not here," her father said after giving her the news and she agreed although inside, she felt that her guts and heart were writhing with nerves, worry and fears.

She felt like something bad was going to happen but something worse than what she has already lived, she did not think it could be.

So that's why she was sitting there in the carriage dressed in mourning clothes with her family and on the way to visit the Diaz's home.

They went through the doorway that the coachman made and they parked the carriage in the street. When seeing the house, she felt that she had not been in it for years with in fact being that it was just almost a day ago she had not seen it. She swallowed hard and mentally prepared herself for what she could see, family members crying, people in mourning, a gloomy and heavy atmosphere. She could even imagine friends from school giving condolences and paying their respects to Marco's remains.

Star could already felt the sting of tears on the edges of her eyes.

When her father knocked on the door, she held his breath waiting for it to open and again her mind spun around in a gloomy and sombre scene of what she could find inside the house. She did not expect to see a Mr. Diaz smiling as if it was a normal day.

"Oh! The Butterfly family, what a surprise, good morning," said the Latin man practically beaming.

This was very different from what Star or her parents expected to find. They expected to find some broken parents crying seas of tears and not this man smiling in front of them and greeting them in that way.

Was this the way they mourned on Earth? They had very strange customs in this world.

"Good morning Mr. Díaz, we have come to pay our respects," reported King River on behalf of his entire family.

"Respects? Oh. Oooohhh, I'm sorry. I'm sorry, it's happened so fast that we can hardly believe it," he began to say, realizing the way the king, queen and princess was dressed, "I forgot to tell you, apologies. I'm so sorry." his guests did not understand what was happening.

"Mr. Díaz?"

"Come on, we still have some breakfast to eat if you would like."

"Eh, Mr. Diaz, are you okay?"

"I'm very well."

The Latino stepped aside and let in some very confused Butterflys inside his house.

The house was emptier than expected. There were no candles, people crying, incense or flowers in memory of the deceased. Star found it too "normal", which was the most unexpected thing to find.

Were the Diaz's in denial?

Once inside, they heard a couple of noises, plates, running water and also dogs barking in the kitchen.

This was too normal, too many everyday noises in the Diaz household for Star's liking.

"We have visitors," Mr. Díaz announced in a cheerful voice inside the house. Quickly, the puppies were the first to arrive excited by the arrival of new people to the house with new smells on them.

"Did that dog just throw lasers through its eyes?" asked the queen after seeing one of those dogs set fire to one of the plants inside the house.

"Ehhh," Star looked away, avoiding her mother's gaze. Her mother did not like her to using her wand irresponsibly and having puppies throw lasers through their eyes could clearly be taken as an irresponsible act.

Before any reprimand or sermon could be uttered, the Butterfly family was frozen from surprise at what their eyes saw.

Leaving the kitchen and walking to the entrance hall, Mrs. Diaz left with a smile. Her face was somewhat tired but her smile, never faltering, reigned on her face. Although, that was not what surprised them but the boy who had embraced by her side accompanying her to the entrance.

A boy with dark skin, brown eyes and brown hair with a curious and cute mole on his cheek down at the corner of his left eye.

"Impossible," King River whispered in surprise, expressing the disbelief that his entire family was experiencing at the moment.

"It was something that surprised us so much and we were so glad that we forgot to tell you," said Rafael Diaz trying to explain why he had not told them what had happened to them, but Star wasn't listening to him.

How many times had Star seen that face in the days she spend living on Earth? She knew it so well, or she thought she knew him almost perfectly as well as the variety of expressions he was capable of doing. Smiles, grimaces, laughter, amazement, pouting, anger, even expressions after receiving a magical explosion in the face. She knew all of them and she couldn't differentiate any difference of the face she knew with the one in front of her.

"Marco? Is it you?" Star said with trembling voice. This was probably an illusion of her mind, maybe she was dreaming. It must be a kind of trick or something.

"Star."

He even had the same voice. That was Marco.

"Marco!" she shouted loudly as she jumped elegantly towards her friend to throw him into a strangler embrace, behaviour inappropriate for a princess her mother would surely say. She was usually was careful to behave in front of her but that didn't matter! "Marco, Marco, Marco! YOU'RE ALIVE!"

The parents only saw the explosion of happiness of the formerly depressed princess with some amazement and sympathy, a couple with more amazement than sympathy and another with more sympathy than amazement. You can already imagine which is which.

"This is ... But how?" asked the queen looking at the little boy with whom her daughter had lived with on her days on Earth. They had already given him up for dead but there he was.

"It's the same thing we asked ourselves when we saw it."

"Marco, Marco, Marco, Marco! IT'S YOU! Is it you and not a zombie or a clone stealing faces right?" She separated a little to see a slight tone of blue in the face of the human with that strong hug it didn't let him breathe well.

"Yeah, it's me," moaned the young human, "Do you have to squeeze me so much?"

"Oops hehehehe but, Marco, you're really here!" She returned to squeeze harder while the human struggled for some oxygen to reach his lungs.

"Star, dear, I think Marco needs some oxygen," called Mrs. Diaz.

"Oh, yes hehehe," Star moved away from Marco and stopped strangling him making the Latino give a sigh of relief as he almost fainted for lack of oxygen.

"But again, but how is this possible?" asked King River again, looking with amazement at the parents of the human child.

"He returned in the night. after we returned home while we were sleeping. Apparently that guy Tofu-"

"Toffee, mum."

"Oh yes, Toffee. That Toffee guy released him from his cell before it was too late and that's why he's here with us now," said Mrs. Diaz, embracing her son.

"WHAT?" The expressions of amazement of the royal family was priceless.

That was another thing that Star would never expect on that day, that one of her enemies, a monster, a villain, would spare the life of her best friend after he threatened to finish it.

"Is that true?" the princess asked the human still not believing it.

"Yes."

"But he's a vile villain. Are you sure there was not a hero out there that we didn't see and rescued you?"

"No, Star," the brunette growled his answer. The things Star said and how she said it irritated him. As if she did not have faith that a monster could be anything other than a villain.

"Are you sure?"

"Yes."

"Crazy."

After that, Star realised that Marco did not return her smile or look like he was happy to see her. In fact, he had that mixture of serious and annoyed expression that he put on when he was irritated but still tried to be courteous and / or tolerant. He used it a lot when he had to put up with the rich little boy in his karate class who always bothered him.

"Uh, Marco?"

"I'm sorry, Mr. Butterfly, but I feel somewhat tired. Mum, dad, I'll go to take a little nap in my room. I haven't slept much," Marco apologised as he looked away from the princess and looked at his parents with his best tired expression.

He really was tired but the reason he wanted to go to his room at that time was that he did not want to spend anymore time in Star's presence.

"Oh, it's fine son, we'll take care of Star's parents," accepted Rafael. His wife and he were also tired so he understood how his son would be tired.

Quickly, the brown haired boy went up the stairs of his house followed by the puppies, closed the door of his room and threw himself to his bed followed by the playful puppies that lied on their sides and on top of him.

He did not want to see Star at that time  but his wishes would not be heard.

Not even five seconds after he was lying on his bed when you counted, someone tried an unsuccessful attempt to open the door because he was sure he told himself that the last person he wanted to see was at the door playing.

Something told him that he would regret this afterwards, but hey, it was impossible to delay the inevitable.

Moaning and snarling, he got up from his bed and went to open the door to find Star smiling at him nervously.

"Marco, are you really okay?"

No, he was not okay at all. He was about to die but what had hurt him the most was that she had chosen her wand over his life.

"Yes."

"It's just that you don't seem to be very well."

So why on earth did she ask if the answer was already written on his face?

"I'm tired, Star, I need to sleep a little."

"I ... Marco, I'm really glad you're back, I felt very devastated thinking that I had lost my best friend."

That was the last straw. How dare she?

"Star, you and I are not friends anymore."

Something broke inside Star's chest with those words.

"What did you just say?"

"Star, what you did to me ... that's not what friends do."

"What, Marco! I know you were kidnapped because of me and it's annoying but I went to rescue you. I tried to save you. I ... "

"I'm not upset about that, Star! Being kidnapped is the last thing I would be upset about right now. For a moment I really thought I was going to die, but I had faith, hope that you would get me out of there ... and then I had the certainty that I would really die. You made me understand what things are most important to you. Even more important than my own life."

The words were cold and even cruel ... because everything he said was true. Star knew it and that was what hurt him most. At the most decisive moment, she did not choose Marco.

"Marco, please understand ..."

"I've always tried to understand you, and I'm tired ... let me sleep Star," Marco finished, closing the door in the face of an incredulous and wounded Star Butterfly. Her eyes were sad and watery and she was surely about to cry but he did not care. For the first time, he did not care what it was that someone else felt before him.

There was no pride in making a girl cry but he was too tired both physically and emotionally to care.

When he went to bed, he did not feel proud of his words but it was necessary for Star to understand how he felt. This was not something easily forgiven. This was not solved from one day to the next to forget as they continue on with their lives.

The decisions she made had consequences and she had to live with them.


	3. 3

~ 3 ~

After dismissing his unexpected guest, Toffee stayed reflecting a moment more on his porch. He usually wasn't so communicative with strangers, much less giving indications of his past or the reasons that drove his actions. He could blame his mild degree of intoxication and by intoxicated he means having drunk half a bottle of fermented marsh water, which had loosed his tongue a little, but the truth was that this little Terran had caused him to want it or not on some level of empathy so to speak.

A difficult thing to do considering that he had hardened his heart for years.

Even with those of his own people or species, he had not experienced that kind of emotion in a really long time.

What was once a prosperous society was in decline. What could have been was brutally erased by the greed of cold invaders with most of the monsters just being a glimpse of the proud species they were. Few could retain the glory of what they once were before the invasion and now many were like Ludo and his gang of misfits.

Most lived dissatisfied with their situation but nobody really did anything to change it. They had few options to develop and many had ended up being led to be "the bad guys" to survive, like stealing, being the ones you hire for a dirty job, cheating, dedicating themselves to businesses that is not well seen, denigrate, etc.

Few had successful lives in what was their native dimension, their native planet, so not only killings made the population of monstrous creatures on Mewni suffer, but also migration to other places to seek opportunities for better lives. Several of his kind did this, they were smart enough to know that everything was against them if they wanted to recover what was theirs. He knew it but his goal was not seeking justice. He wanted revenge. Toffee was bad.

And he knew it.

The real settlers had died centuries ago, even that cold and cruel queen, but their offspring were still there tormenting them. The sins of the parents are paid for by the children, he had once heard someone say, and for many years he was inclined for his plan A to be to kill "the children of sinners", but that would be a bit empty. He was looking for something much bigger and what was a better blow than to strike at the pride of the royal family?

Their beloved magic wand. Their life basically revolved around that thing.

Destroying that artefact became Toffee's motive to exist, literally. He's dedicated years of research, study and exploration and has discovered many unexpected things, for example the reason for the emigration of these settlers to their world. Discovering it motivated him even more to get rid of that damn wand.

He could even say with satisfaction that he knew much more about the wand, its history, its powers, its scope, than its own current carrier.

He made endless sacrifices for obtaining that information, effort and years invested, so he knew people like Ludo would have done anything to get it, but he just wanted to destroy it. That's why he had decided not to trust anyone however the temptation to do so was very powerful and if anyone knew a glimpse of what he had planned there was a high possibility of betrayal and his plans would fail.

He had been alone for a long time, both on his own initiative and on the fact that there was no one who understood him. As he had said before, most of the people who participated in the massacre of the monsters, including surviving monsters, had left the planet, or those who had the ability to live a long life or make their biological clock run slower as they wanted, did not share the same interests.

That simple "I'm sorry", given by that human, was unexpected, and even more surprising, it seemed really sincere.

For a fraction of a second, brief and ephemeral, he felt that someone understood him. And as soon as it happened, he quickly scolded himself to think about it. He could not believe that he had allowed himself those kind of thoughts.

He didn't know if that human was too naive or too good, maybe he was a little bit of both. The best thing for this would be that he did not reconnect with that damned royal family, not that he would use him again as a bait. He learned from his mistakes and tried not to repeat them again, but those queens and princesses were so selfish and capricious that they would be bad company for someone like him. And this was not compassion or empathy, it was just an observation.

* ~ * ~ *  
~ When you are looking for quiet days, they do not arrive ~

Marco had spent a couple of days at home after his abduction. He had not seen Star since her family came to pay their respects for his apparent death. Many have asked about the absence of the blonde, which he's responded with that she was most likely back in her own dimension; only his best friends asked about the couple of days he missed of school as it was unheard of in a boy as responsible as Marco was unless he was really sick.

Ferguson and Alfonzo were the only ones who found out what the reason for his absence from school was.

"Oh man, are there really chicken men?" Ferguson asked at lunchtime after Marco finished his story.

"Really, that's what you're going to ask first? Marco was kidnapped and almost crushed like a waffle," scolded Alfonzo.

"I also was almost kidnapped."

"By the opposing football team of another school because you decided to wear our mascot costume, not international villains. It's not the same."

"But it was just as traumatic, the trick is to not remembering the bad times."

"Was almost crushed," Alfonzo emphasised again. In his opinion, Ferguson was taking what happened to their friend very lightly.

"Alright Al, in this Ferguson is right," said Marco finally intervening in the recent discussion. Sometimes, they argued like an old married couple.

"Really?" asked the pair equally amazed.

"Yes."

"What that chicken men are terrifying?" asked the smiling redhead. It's not very often that they agree with him.

"Did you hit your head very hard as well as being crushed?" asked the worried Alfonzo. He had enough madness from Ferguson and if thanks to that incident Marco had ended as bad in the head as the redhead, he didn't believe he could keep his sanity.

"The chicken men are not terrifying. I didn't hit my head that hard but what Fergus was right with was to not empathise the bad times too much. In the end, I'm here, and I was able to return home," he said it with a smile but it was more than obvious that it was false.

Right then, Alfonzo and Ferguson was silent. They both knew Marco for years, they were childhood friends from pre-school.

Marco was a good boy, well behaved, sincere, careful and responsible, amongst other qualities, but what they appreciated most about him was that he was a good friend, faithful and tolerant.

If they were honest with themselves, the trio was not popular but Marco had the potential to be highlighted a little more than them and not be a complete zero on the social ladder. He was smart, but not a complete nerd, four eyes and weak like Alfonzo. He was not the star player of the school but he kept fit and practised karate, and he was not a nerd or the weird overweight guy like Ferguson.

When they entered high school, of the three it was obvious that Marco was gaining some attractiveness but for his shyness and the fact he was such a well behaved and responsible boy. It was clear that if he were a little more relaxed and a little more daring, he could get there to having more popularity than being known throughout his school as the security guy.

If Marco were a different boy from the one they knew, when he realised his potential he would do what most of the boys did in search of popularity in school and get away from the friendships that would hinder him in his social ladder and become popular. Proof of this was Brittney Wong and Janna.

It was an almost unknown fact in high school these days, unless you had shared preschool with that pair, but Brittney and Janna had been best friends in their early childhood. They were as close as butter and jam in a sandwich and always played the princess and the monster together. Obviously, Brittney would always be the princess and Janna loved to play the role of the monster guarding the princess, Brittney always invited Janna to their parties, and Janna always told her the weird things that she was learning .

After preschool and going to elementary school things changed in that pair, there the children found out that there were these groups of popular kids, and if you wanted to be great you had to belong to it. Some didn't care but others found this the most important, among these children was Brittney who had the looks and the means of her parents' money to become a popular girl by buying things to be fashionable, looking good at all times, being admired by her colleagues and other children. However, there was a problem to reach the peak of popularity and she had to started to get together with other girls more interested in their appearance and what was fashionable than a girl who liked weird things.

From elementary school to high school, the relationship of Brittney and Janna was so distant that it was practically as if they had never met. Now, they were in two totally different social spheres in high school.

Marco was not like Brittney or any superficial boy or girl. Marco was simply Marco and he didn't abandon the people who he considered his friends. He protected them and he was faithful to them with the only thing he asked in return was that at least part of those sincere feelings were reciprocal. He could endure heavy jokes, the odd argument, but if you were there for him as he was always there for you in difficult times, then he would be your unconditional friend.

Star had done the worst thing you could do to Marco Diaz. She literally betray their friendship by abandoning him when he needed her most. She had practically left him to die.

Marco would not recover so easily from that hard blow from one day to the next.

"Then ... do they really have that cell they captured you with in your house?" Alfonzo asked, trying to continue the conversation without touching the sensitive topic.

"Yes, at the moment it's the new coffee table in the living room since it's too heavy to move."

"Super, can we go to your house today to see it?" the redhead asked excitedly.

"Of course, now it's totally harmless so there will be no problems."

"Marco Díaz, report to the headmaster's office as soon as possible. Marco Diaz, report to the headmaster's office as soon as possible," the voice of the headmaster's secretary resounded on the speakers.

"Do you think they're calling me in for missing class?"

"Maybe they're just calling the headmaster wanted the known responsible boy to transport another message," joked Alfonzo, but it was very likely that was it.

"I would prefer it to be the first one. I'm not in the mood to run errands."

"Were you going to finish eating that?" asked Ferguson, pointing to his friend's unfinished lunch of minced meat pies that his mother had prepared for him.

These last few days, he had been really spoiled by his two parents, preparing his favourite meals, being constantly embraced, even left to school by car which they had stopped doing since he started using the school bus in the middle of elementary school. He complained but it was nice to receive that treatment from his parents although he knew that this was mostly because they were still affected by what had happened to him. There were times when he had to repeat to his mother and father that everything was fine, that he was back home healthy and safe to reassure them. There were times when he had to repeat it to himself.

"Of course, you can have them."

"See you later Marco," Alfonzo said goodbye. Ferguson was busy doing an impression of the devouring beast of empanadas, so his mouth was too full to speak correctly.

"Well see you guys later."

Marco walked to the school office building seriously asking himself if he was really in trouble for missing class the past few days. Well, he had been kidnapped, that should be a more than justifiable reason for missing classes, but he had no idea if the headmaster was aware of these events or if his parents had communicated with him to give proof of his absence. Goodbye almost perfect attendance record.

He greeted the secretary earning a smile from them. Not all students who came could get one as usually the ones that came to meet with the headmaster were the problematic kids and they were always a headache creating mischief or behaving very rudely in reception before entering to the headmaster's office. But since Marco was the furthest away from a problem boy, it was very nice for the secretary to find him in his domain when he came.

With a nod, he indicated that Marco could enter.

"You wanted me to come here, headmaster?" Opening the door, he took half a step into the office waiting for the director to tell him what happened. Marco really didn't expect him to be accompanied and even less for who accompanied him.

" Marco Díaz, just the boy I was looking for. Here's her ... royal highness," the headmaster pointed to the high and outstanding figure by his side not very sure of how to address someone of royalty. This was a public school and the people of highest rank who attended were the children of some wealthy businessmen of the city, "she wants to talk to you."

Marco looked surprised at Star's mother in front of him. He had only seen her a couple of times, made up of the other day when she came to visit his family to give her condolences and sometimes when he went into Star's room when she was talking to her parents through her magic mirror.

She was so different compared to her daughter. It was obvious that the princess had inherited most of her father's physical features, blonde hair and blue eyes as well as skin tone, while Queen Butterfly had a pale skin almost white as snow, next to her unusual grey-blue hair tone like her name "Moon", made her look like a pale figure taken from the same moon. A cold and distant moon.

Which also led him to also compare their personality's, Star was all smiles, cheerful, daring and naive among other things, while for what he knew about Queen Moon was that she was strict. What Star had told him was that her mother was also demanding of both the behaviour of her daughter and her husband, as well as expelled her husband from the castle when they fought.

What the hell was Queen Moon Butterfly doing in the principal's office? What the hell did she want from him?

"Uh, hello Mrs. Bu ... I mean, good afternoon Queen Butterfly."

"Good afternoon, Marco Diaz, you may be surprised by my presence right now."

"Yes a little bit."

"I've come to request your services for an important issue."

"Sorry? Is it something about Star?" he couldn't help asking.

A certain part of him, although he no longer considered the princess of Mewni a friend, was still very hurt by her actions. He wondered how she was and worried when he saw her mother in front of him. Something very important had to happen to bring her here or at least that's what he believed.

The last time he saw Star he closed his bedroom door in her face. At night, when his parents questioned him because the princess had left the house with a depressed face, he told them the truth, that he no longer considered her his friend and why that was, how she chose the wand instead of his life. As expected, their parents were surprised and for a moment they did not know what to say. They appreciated the girl a lot and it was hard for them to believe that the cheerful and friendly girl had been capable of it. They did not seem angry but disappointed.

His parents understood how their son felt as one of the main values that he was taught while growing up was friendship and loyalty, as well as family. They were very important things in his family, so they told his son that they understood how he felt and they suggested that he not hold a grudge or anger in his heart. It was good that he felt it for a moment but that he did not cling to it as it would only harm him in the long run.

"Oh no, this doesn't have anything to do exactly with my daughter, although it is also related to her."

"What facts?"

"The attack against the royal family."

" Attack?"

"It is obvious that the past event in which you were involved in was a clear attempt to attack the royal family. My husband and I have deeply analysed the facts after our daughter gave us all the information she could but there are still many missing pieces of information. Since you were also involved, I came here to ask you to give us information about the events that you lived, something you should know to help us find the one responsible."

Cold, that was the only word he could find to describe the way she told him and asked for things. She said it as if his relationship of such events was not that he was kidnapped and threatened with death but well at this point, he had convinced himself that Toffee did not really intend to kill him, only to instruct Star to do what he asked, but that memory hurt him because he discovered there that he was less valuable to the princess as a friend than he the thought.

He shifted uncomfortably under the queen's gaze. What could he say to her? Did she want to keep questioning him on this?

He knew what Toffee had done was wrong but since his talk in the swamp his point of view was not in favour of any side regarding this fight between monsters and queens and princesses with magic wands.

Really what he wanted to take some time for himself and his family but something told him that his relative tranquillity would be harmed if he was still in front of the queen.

However, he just had to answer some questions and tell her what had happened, right?

"Well, I can tell you what happened, but I don't know if you know more about this than me," he said without thinking, letting him speak his part and then he remembered his talk in the swamp with the lizard man.

Does Star know the truth of her family history? Marco doubted if she did if the Mewni Independence Day performance they did in his garden was correct.

Why was he nervous? He wasn't doing anything wrong, just tell them what happened during his kidnapping, just the truth.

"I'm sure that any information you give us will be useful."

"Well, then I could start ... "

"No no no. Not here."

"If you like, I could give you some privacy in my office?" offered the headmaster going to his door to leave, but a hand gesture from the queen stopped him.

"It is not necessary headmaster, I will take Marco Diaz to a more private place. And what better place than my own castle?" she said taking out a pair of dimensional scissors.

"What? No, sorry your majesty but it is not necessary to go there, the director has already very kindly offered his office to answer your questions in."

Looking between the words, he was saying "I do not want to travel between dimensions anymore. I do not want to go to your castle. I want to stay in my dimension "

"Nonsense, my castle is much more suited to the kind of interrogation we're going to do to you," said Queen Butterfly as she cut the air and created a portal to her dimension.

Those words did not reassure him at all. Just the opposite actually.

What kind of interrogation was it that they had to move him to Mewni's castle? Or was it just the royalty's paranoia?

"Headmaster, headmaster?" called the young Latino to the other authority figure of the room waiting for him to say something like "Students should not miss class" or "I'm sorry your majesty but you have no authority here"

"What? Oh yes, do not worry Marco, I'll call your parents about this. After my lunch, of course."

Seriously?! Why did the adults around him seem to lack any responsible character?

"Come on, walk, walk," a couple of shocks, not very polite or friendly, made the earthling lose his balance so unpretentiously and falls through the portal.

Who said that royalty is synonymous with good manners?

Marco had only wanted to be at school continuing with a relatively quiet day, not this.

Something told him that his day would be far from calm from now on.

~ + ~ + ~

Toffee was in one of his many dens among the number of dimensions he had visited throughout his life. Marco has probably already told them at this point what kind of place he had taken him. The Mewni marshes were unique and if you had visited them at least once you would know how to locate them, perhaps they would suspect where his house was in the swamp.

He wasn't angry. Marco didn't owe him anything and it was his right to have him say what he saw and what he didn't see.

He just had to be more careful from now on. Patience was a virtue that was very useful in his line of work.


	4. 4

~ 4 ~

Marco's parents were nervous as Marco had not returned home.

Yesterday, the school's headteacher told them that their son had gone with the Star's mother to attend to some very important matters. The Diaz's were a little surprised but they knew that with the kind and helpful personality of their child, he would not refuse to help who needed it and so they waited for him at home. However as the hours passed, he still did not return. Even their son's friends came to visit and when they did not find their friend, they decided to stay to see if Marco would return. At some point in the afternoon in the descent of a silent night, the children had to return to their homes but their son did not return.

They tried to call him on his cell phone but it said he was out of the service area. Did cell phones work through dimensions? Apparently not.

It was then they came up with the only thing they knew inside the house that was theirs to communicate through dimensions. Star's mirror.

"Hello? Anyone there?"

"Do you think we called wrong mirror again dear?"

"I have no idea. I'm still not sure how this thing works."

Both were standing in front of the mirror but they only saw their reflection, which they did not want to do at that time, they wanted to see a familiar face but not their own.

They began to hear a small sound like when an interference is caused on the television and then there was a face with blond hair and blue eyes.

"Hello? Who speaks at this time?"

"King River?"

-Oh! Mr. and Mrs. Diaz, what a surprise. To what do I owe this call?

"Marco," Angie said with the face of a worried mother.

"The headmaster of Marco's school told us that you were looking for him, I think he said your wife, for something important. Maybe to find out something about those who kidnapped him."

"Oh yes, that. You already know how it is to have enemies. You must know all about them and then attack properly. At least that's what my wife thinks, personally I prefer to attack and then ask. It's much more exciting, although that's hard if you don't know where the enemy is."

"Eh, of course. So they went to Marco to find out where Toffy is?" Rafael asked not being sure what they wanted with their son.

"Toffee, dear," Angie corrected.

"Well, yes, Mr. Diaz. We thought that Marco would have some information or clue about that criminal. My own wife is in charge of questioning him to know where Toffee might have lived or for him to tell us a little more about our enemy."

"And how long will that take?" Angie asked, wringing her hands worried. Not having her son close after the whole kidnapping experience made her nervous.

She wanted her child close, or at least in this dimension, on this planet, in this city to be sure that he was close. Not hundreds or billions of kilometers away or who knows how the distances between dimensions were measured. She wanted her son in her home.

"That depends on how much he can tell us, taking into account that he was in greater contact with the criminal he can tell us valuable information."

"Then he will be delayed?"

"Yes, I think so. Don't worry, when this is over we'll send him back."

Before the Diaz's could ask more like how long would it take, if they could go there to be near Marco, or if he would come back that day, King River Butterfly hung up on them.

* ~ * ~ *

~ Cold, cold heart ~

Star was still in her room in a sea of sheets, blankets, pillows and stuffed animals, literally, with her wand she had transformed her room into a sea of all those elements and more. It had been three days since she last saw Marco and returned to her castle. Three days since she's descended into a depressing state of self-pity and sadness.

She looked pathetic. She knew it because that's how she felt but it was something she could not avoid as losing Marco in this way was painful. Maybe more so than when she thought of him dead since now she knew that in life she had already lost him as a friend.

Unusually, her mother had been understandable with her condition and had let her stay in her room since they returned to Mewni with her father visiting her from time to time and peering into her room to find out how she was processing this new kind of duel. Not even when she broke up with Tom had she felt this depressed.

Well, this was different. She had moved away from a relationship with Tom because he was very controlling and had some terrible anger problems. In addition to this, her best friend Pony Head had helped her overcome the bitter drink but now it was her who had ruined one of the best friendships she had ever had, and Pony Head was still in St Olga's. She was probably still continuing to fight against the authority figures of that institution and guilt continued to eat away at her from the inside.

As she ate her umpteenth bowl of giant ice cream laden with whipped cream and rainbow sprinkles, she wondered not for the first time what Marco doing at that moment.

While her thoughts wandered to planet Earth and the high school she attended and the house she was in those months, the princess did not know the true location of Marco Diaz, who was much closer than she thought.

Right in that same castle where she grew up.

While she rested on a softer bed than the clouds themselves, another rested on a cold, damp ground as cold as ice.

They will ask 'how has a boy ended up in the dungeons of Mewni Castle if no crime has been committed'? The answer for this is how most injustices occur in life, they begin with selfish acts.

While the princess was processing her depression, a queen had dedicated these last few days to seriously attend the attack against the royal family and the magic wand.

Moon Butterfly was a serious and responsible monarch, often putting her real obligations above her tastes or even the opinions of her own family. She knew that as queen she had a very important duty. The royalty were the example of perfection before her people, which she tried to remind both her husband and daughter who seemed to devote their lives to destroy the image that had been instilled in her as a royal person. She also knew that among the tasks of her social class entailed great responsibilities such as defending the security of her own life, the kingdom, and specifically between the queens and princesses of her family was the obligation to carry and care for the magic wand.

The magic wand was the most powerful object in its dimension and realm. It was an object that could be adapted according to the nature of its owner, so it could be easily influenced by the person who carried it and in turn would enhance the strongest qualities of its owner. In other words, if a good person had a wand it would reflect in its kindness aspect adequate to the character and taste of the person and it would influence that they performed good spells with it; if a person had bad intention or had an evil heart the wand would reflect in its aspect the evil within the heart of the person and would encourage its bearer to perform destructive spells.

During the Star's early childhood, her mother tried to instil this knowledge into her. If the wand fell into the wrong hands that were not of royalty, the members of her family, bad things would happen. Like her mother before, she was repeating with different words, "royalty is good", but what they should have said was "royalty should be good".

People in her position had to make important decisions because of their position. Some that outsiders would question but ones that were necessary.

Moon Butterfly has made one of those decisions recently.

After questioning her daughter a bit trying to see how much she knew about the terrible monster named "Toffee" that attacked her and tried to destroy the wand, she found out that Star did not know much more than just his appearance and his desire to destroy the precious family object, the wand. And then she remembered the little boy who acted as a guardian for her daughter on Earth, and that he spent more time with the monster than her daughter, so it occurred to her to interrogate him after learning that he had survived the attack.

She was not going to get any more at this point. She did not think he would go so far to keep a little more information. Marco Diaz was a cute guy with manners and he was cooperative from the beginning, giving her a little more information than her own daughter. As expected, he could be satisfied with a little sentimentality as he felt after almost dying and the betrayal of someone that he thought was a friend. Obviously they could not be, they were from different classes. She was a princess and he was a humble little boy from another dimension, but she kept that comment to herself.

And then she had to ask.

"Did he say something important while he had you captured?"

There she noticed some nervousness. Something that she found very suspicious. Although, if she had taken into account that this interrogation had happened in the dungeons it would not be so suspicious that the boy got nervous. They had been there for a couple of hours and everything was getting darker but she thought that this was the best place to this kind of thing.

That's how they taught her.

"Excuse me, but we've been here for hours. How much longer will this take?"

Typical of the common people. Did they not understand how important their work was?

"Just answer a couple more questions, Marco Diaz. What you say will help us find that criminal more easily."

"After the castle blew up, I told you that I woke up in a kind of cabin in a swamp. I honestly don't know where it was."

"But did he say something?" she repeated and she hated having to repeat things.

"He told me a bit of history when I asked why he was doing it."

"History?"

"On the day of the Massacre of the Monsters."

"Mewni's Independence Day, you mean," she corrected quickly, hating that other barbarous title for one of the most celebrated festivities in her kingdom.

" ... " Marco was left watching without trying to show his irritation. Although inside, he was already getting tired of this scenario taken from a cliche detective or gangster film.

"That was it?"

"Star had already told me about that day. Toffee ... just told me another version."

"Well, it was a lie he must've told you."

"I'm not sure if what he told me were lies." It could have been that everything Toffee told him that night could have been a very elaborate but unnecessary lie, but a larger part of Marco believed that what he said was true. "He told me about the colonisation, of the arrival of your ancestor, the first queen of your family in Mewni. Of how there were people living these lands before them, and how there was a fight between the colonisers and the indigenous people of these places-

"Silly stuff! There there was no person in these lands before the arrival of my ancestor and her subjects."

Marco never liked pretentious people or ones that believed themselves better than others just because they had been born with a silver spoon in their mouth, which they seemed to take as a right to treat those around them in the worst way possible and act like were humbler than they were. This was the reason he could not stand his karate companion. This queen in front of him showed herself to not be so different from him.

"Maybe they did not consider them as such ... I'm talking about the monsters, they lived here before, they were here before you." Marco could see how the queen frowned in clear displeasure. Obviously, she did not like what he said but he continued speaking. "He told me how your people took their land, how they fought ... how you deceived them. They were supposed to have a truce talk between both sides, but that day the queen deceived the monsters and ... "

"Enough!" Mewni's queen raised her voice, irritated and frightened, though she would never admit the second out loud.

For hundreds of years, generations of the plebs, the aristocrats and princesses blindly believed in Mewni's version of Independence Day from the books, the most convenient and easiest to believe. She was once one of the many naïve minds that believed that these lands were rightfully theirs for the lack of any other inhabitants worthy of taking ownership of the kingdom except for the Butterfly Royalty. In fact she still believed it, monsters were monsters, in her eyes her ancestors only did the best because the monsters would not take advantage of these lands and their ancestors needed it much more than them.

When adulthood comes, the princesses mature to become women, queens worthy of their lineage who would attend to their duties and also secrets, since the previous queens not only learned the best kept secrets of the magic wand, but also from their own family.

One of these was about Mewni's independence day. There were few apart from the royal family who knew the true version.

But it was necessary, those brainless beasts if not placated would have eliminated the opportunity of prosperity for their people. It was already ancient history.

How did this earthling boy know about this? How did that monster Toffee or whatever its called think this was wise?

It was obvious that the monsters had their own version but there were details that many of the monsters had forgotten.

Being the example of perfection and leadership, something to admire and respect, that was the real family, that's what they taught her. They had to make difficult and important decisions, other people who did not share the same rank would not understand, so it was better to forget them.

Now this child knew.

How dare that monster divulge these things? Why?

She looked at the little boy in front of her, who looked at her with astonishment and a somewhat scared expression, probably because of her recent outburst. A child who should not know but knew.

Difficult decisions, ones that many times strongly affected third parties.

Without saying anything, Queen Moon Butterfly turned around towards the heavy wooden door of the dungeon, gave a slight knock and it was immediately opened by the guard on the other side of it. Before Marco reacted and realised that she was going to leave, she stopped and he tried walk after her thinking that she wanted him to follow her outside. That was a mistake since once the queen crossed to the other side the door banged closed with him still inside the dungeon.

"Wait! You can't leave me here! Hey, I have to go back home!" he started shouting. He started hitting the heavy wooden door, even kicking it for an answer, an explanation, but it never came, only silence.

Why did she react like that? She had no right to leave him locked up there like a vile criminal no matter how royal she is! He had not done anything wrong!

He had only told the truth like she wanted.

Apparently, that truth was one that Queen Butterfly could not stand.

Once he got tired of hitting the door and screaming, he was left very exhausted and hungry, after all he had not finished his lunch that afternoon and that had been hours ago.

He leaned on one of the stone walls and tried to rest. At some point the queen, the king or even Star, or someone would come to get him out of there, right? They couldn't leave it there forever, right?

At least this cell was much more spacious than the one Toffee used. On the other hand, even the lizard man had kindly offered something to eat in his captivity.

As he fell asleep, he thought that maybe today he would not go home either.

At night while Moon Butterfly was getting ready for a restful night, she tried to calm down from her overwhelming and recent worries.

Sometimes, she felt that a queen's worries never ended.

While arranging her hair to rest, because this beautiful hair did not stand alone, she observed a small arrangement of her wand, a little gem she had sent to know that she would soon inherit her daughter's wand as tradition said, a replica of her own made wand. Made of diamond.

Most people said that when she took the wand for the first time and it was transformed, the heart shape on the tip shone as the most beautiful of diamonds did, worthy of royalty, the heart sculpted to magic that personified its character. From another perspective, the heart that looked like a diamond could seem like a very different thing, polished ice with affiliated edges and devoid of any warmth.


	5. 5

~ 5 ~

~ We must be aware of our past so as not to make the same mistakes, but we also should not be stuck in it as to be able to continue forwards with our future ~

Mewni many years ago ...

It was a prosperous land with its inhabitants, creatures that had adapted as dangerous as their environments. However, the tribes of the indigenous peoples of this land were also as diverse as their surroundings, with unique characteristics, traditions and customs.

In those times when the magic of portals between dimensions was just emerging in different dimensions, Mewni was not as advanced as other cultures, but that did not mean that there were ignorant people in it.

Despite some disagreements or clashes between the tribes from time to time, there was an atmosphere of peace in these lands. Everyone respected their territories and trade between them was fruitful.

Until one day that all changed.

They came across the sea with ships as big as a small island. They came crossing the great rivers crossing the roads of this unknown country. They arrived and saw what the creatures had and liked it. They came believing they had the right to take everything, thinking that there would be no consequences.

Who were these foreigners? Where had they come from? What was it they wanted?

Many doubts arose along with fear and pain at the arrival of these beings so strange to them. They did not have thick skin or scales, feathers or thorns on their bodies, they did not have claws, fangs or even tails. They did not seem threatening to the naked eye but with their armour, shields and weapons they sowed terror and death across the lands.

In those times Toffee was just a puppy, oblivious to the dangers that threatened his world like many other creatures and tribes removed from the massacres of the invaders.

Toffee was a young and happy puppy, his people lived among the deepest swamps, like the dark jungles or even the corners of the desert. His people were one of the tribes that best adapted to their environment. They were prosperous and maintained good relations with the other creatures of Mewni.

Although his family was small, they were an important part of the tribe. His father was the support for many in search of advice and guidance, even for the group of elders who served as council leaders within his tribe. His mother was a specialist in remedies and knew some magic, so she had a role as one of the village healers.

His parents were his guides in this life. They taught him what they knew like intelligence, patience, observation and how to make good decisions, among other things.

When the news of the invaders arrived in his village, his father knew that this was only the beginning, that any creature that dared to take the land of a people immediately without even negotiating or trying to reach an agreement was obviously irrational, aggressive and even desperate to get them. His father suspected that they also did not have good hearts and these combined factors presaged only bad things.

As a puppy, he barely understood everything the adults said but he knew that it was about bad news. Bad things had come to his world and bad things were going to happen if they stayed.

And that's how it happened. The days passed and news kept coming to his village about people fighting against the invaders and being defeated. The small tribe that inhabited the first invaded meadow had requested help from their allies and could not go back where they came from due to the invaders. They alone asked in turn to help others.

The invaders not only didn't conformed to that piece of stolen land but also sent their men to explore beyond their territory and when they saw something they liked they took it. They did it with the trees and plants, cutting them to build houses and create cultivated fields. They did so by catching several wild beasts to eat or tame, as with boar goats or forest unicorns.

At this rate, the monsters of Mewni who still retained their lands felt that their territory would be the next to be desecrated and their people to be attacked.

What kind of beings were these invaders that they could not respect the property of others? Did not they have the heart to take pity on the people they were making suffer?

It was a matter of time for Toffee's village to also look for help and the opinions of the people were divided between not intervening and going to the aid of their neighbours. If they did not intervene, they would strain the good relations they had with the other tribes but if they did intervene there was the risk of ending up like many others with several casualties and wounded from the invaders. They could even lose their territory but if they did not intervene they ran the risk of losing their lands if these invaders continued to advance as they apparently intended to do.

In the end, they decided they would help their neighbours, getting involved in this war that nobody asked for.

Toffee was a puppy but like many puppies back then he had to mature fast.

His mother had to go along with others of his tribe to help the wounded and sick in the war, leaving him with his father in the village. She never came back after that.

Father and son mourned their loss, like many other families before them. She had been a great companion, a strong and wise female and a good mother.

Toffee hated the invaders from that moment. If the invaders had not come his mother and many other parents would continue living with their families, but they came and caused so much suffering. His father, as wise as he was, told him not to cling to these grudges, justice would soon be dealt, but he should not allow himself to be consumed by hatred.

Sometimes it was difficult to follow those wise words, when the pain was so fresh and sharp in his young heart.

This war was not hard from one day to the next, but neither did it extend over a thousand years or a hundred. However, that did not take away its importance in the heart of every creature or being that lived it in its own flesh. On the part of the invaders and the monsters, on the part of the invaders or the natives, on the part of the victims of both sides.

There was a point where everyone was aware that this wouldn't get them anywhere, where even the earth seemed to resent so much suffering stained with blood and death. Green fields seemed arid, crystalline rivers had become turbulent, the earth had a hue tinged with the blood of the fallen in this war. Soon there would be no land to fight for or someone to claim it if they continued like this.

"Is it necessary that you go?" Toffee asked his father when he told him what he had planned to do with the other tribes.

"It is, son."

"Why?"

"We've had this puppy conversation, with these discussions the war will take the first step to finally end." Those were the words of his father and whether or not he had been right again in his predictions would be seen.

In the absence of a mother, the father and son had taken refuge in one another because of the pain of loss. They were the only family they had left among them, and the young puppy feared from his scales to his heart not to having his father near and even more when he would march to face those cruel invaders. Even when he was told that this time there would be no hostility but peace talks.

The fear of losing him was palpable in every fibre of his being, no matter how many words of hope and peace were offered to him by his father and other adults of his tribe.

"I'll be back soon, son, and this time with good news about the treaties," Toffee's father consoled, hugging him before the inevitable farewell.

If he had known that this would be the last time he would see his father, he would have embraced him with all his might, trying to keep him by his side, even if for a few more moments. However as an old philosopher said, he would have none.

What happened would remain engraved as a story with two titles that marked the versions of the winners and the losers.

Why this talk of peace was only a facade, a trap well engineered by a queen who was not afraid to use her people as mere pawns and sacrifice innocents based on a deception.

"Mewni's Independence Day" or "The day of the monsters' massacre"

And the facts with this title changed, but the essence was the same, the monsters lost, the "inhabitants" of Mewni won, or the supposed "inhabitants". And the kingdom of the Butterfly family began in this land that they proclaimed as theirs.

His father did not return after that day as many others didn't return either. The leaders of each tribe, wise and brave monsters, men who sought peace for their people, were lost and with them that peace they sought for their people.

Without these leaders, the tribes found losses among them and what was once their home had been stolen and what remains is to stay and suffer the suppression of the invaders or find a new place to live.

Toffee was so lost.

What happens to children who get lost in pain with no one to guide them out of that pain? They grow with it and they become adults who live in constant pain.

Not having anymore family, a friend of his father took care of him for a while as he was still too young to fully take care of himself. He was still too hurt by the lost to think he still had a life to live.

Some of the monsters, including some people from his tribe, with high magical qualities, began to create and investigate spells to find safe places to live, that is how his people invented their own way of travelling through dimensions.

They did not need tools or catalyst gems, as many other worlds used them in this kind of magic, only their own power.

When they arrived at a world where a jungle grew, hope existed and where there did not seem to be any great threats, they settled there. Others had gone to other worlds, to other dimensions, looking in some way for the home they had lost. While others stayed, perhaps out of stubbornness, to defend the last piece of pride and land they had even when it was sterile and hostile to those who lived in it, perhaps because they no longer had the energy to look for something better, or not. They may have not known what to do but to live with what little they had.

In Toffee's deep depression, there was something still alive like a living flame fighting against the tides of sadness and loneliness that was inside him. Like a burning coal that burned inside him, his hatred still existed. His hatred towards those who took everything from him and left him with nothing .

And that hatred became the fuel of his existence, the family that welcomed him tried to make him grow up leaving that poisonous feeling behind him but he refused, he did not want to and could not stop hating all the damage that damn royalty did to others, as they tried to do to him. He knew that many others also felt the same as him but they would not risk losing what little they had for a clearly unfruitful revenge, which he did not fear, since he had nothing left to lose.

"You still have your life, that's the most valuable thing that your parents could bequeath to you, do not waste it." Those were the words of his father's friend the day Toffee decided to leave the settlement and travel on his own since he was now old enough to take care of himself. It was not necessary to tell him that this trip was to know how to take revenge on the Butterfly.

"I won't do that," he answered with determination. He would dedicate his life to see his goal fulfilled and he would only rest until he saw it done.

He eventually learned that he was not the only one with a desire to take revenge against those invaders, the self-proclaimed owners of Mewni, especially since the first anniversary of the massacre of the monsters, the anniversary of the death of his father and many others, the queen had thrown a party that represented and celebrated her victory, with exaggerated lies and ridiculing the monsters that were deceived and bravely fought for peace and a better life for their children.

What a cruel and hypocritical sense of humour those beings had!

But now with fewer monsters able to fight, inexperienced or too desperate, the attempts were easily dismissed with some losses of the monsters and a minimum of damage to the soldiers of the queen, the former farmers and humble people who had been at the service of their monarch transformed into killing machines.

Without a true plan it was obvious that they would constantly fail.

That is why Toffee prepared both physically and mentally. He exercised and studied his enemy even from afar and for a long time he thought that if at least he got the queen's head in his hands his pain would subside.

And when he thought he was fully prepared, one night he managed to sneak into the depths of that opulent castle, because his enemies were mostly subjugated and placated. Security was a bit poor, so it was easy to enter it. Now that he thinks about it, it was too simple.

These people did not fear that someone would enter their current domain as a threat, as they were constantly protected by their soldiers and neighbours throughout those years of invasion.

This thought fuelled his anger all the more.

Arriving at what he believed was the royal chambers, he was stealthy and careful, attentive to any noise, aware of his surroundings. He could already feel the blood of his enemy in his hands.

But that never happened, despite all his preparation there were many things he did not know about the queen and the extent of her power, or rather of her magic.

The queen seemed to rest in a sumptuous bed, so comfortable and careless, as if the weight of her crimes did not weigh her at all in her conscience.

That was the last straw.

He pounced with dagger in hand ready to finish his work when a murmur came from the queen's lips and a beam of light hit him.

What happened? Had the queen been awake all this time?

No, but apparently she had enough instinct to sense the danger in while she was still asleep and cast a spell.

She had thrown a bolt of energy that had thrown him against the wall and the sound of his shock and scream of pain had been strong enough to wake the monarch, even though he was at an increasing disadvantage he would not surrender.

The queen looked at him surprised and even horrified by his invasion.

"How did a disgusting creature like you invade my rooms?"

"In the same way that you and your people believed that you had the right to invade our lands and kill our people."

He would like to say that this confrontation was an epic fight, without a doubt Toffee was the first and only monster to get so far in an attack against his "majesty", but he didn't have enough defences for the infinity of tricks that the damned magic wand had up its sleeve.

Rays of energy, explosions and avalanches of small and not so small harmful creatures attacked him. He was devastated after those attacks, literally, since he himself had a bit of defensive magic or his capacity for regeneration, but that did not put him at all in advantage and barely helped him defend himself.

Then guards arrived and he had to escaped.

A great failure, a great disappointment. He was so close, but didn't succeed.

He hid in the depths of the black forest, waiting for his wounds to be healed; Toffee had lost his tail, he had broken bones, and a missing arm. It took a long time to recover because of how weak he was and he even thought he was going to die, and the thought that he would have to face his parents' faces after the death embarrassed him.

He just could not face them now with his failure, and that's why he gathered the energy that he no longer had to survive after that attack.

He had recovered and healed most of his body, except one finger in his right claw, that would be a constant reminder of his youthful recklessness and his failure in his revenge.

Toffee reflected deeply on his failures and came to the conclusion that he lacked information on his enemy to counterattack, especially on that wand, he doubted that it would be easy to get it, especially as he was not sure where to look and to go into the castle now would be a silly move, surely they would know what tricks he had used, or what tricks he could use to infiltrate the castle and block them.

It was when he began to think about the roads, and specifically the way by which these invaders had arrived, that he didn't really know anything about their past before they reached their lands, and if he searched for their origins he might discover at least one clue for the way to defeat that queen and her wand.

They would pay for the sins they committed on his people's land even if it took years.

And with time he would find out that this was not the only sin of the Butterfly family.

* ~ * ~ *

Star had left her room, forcing herself to come out to breathe in air that was not flooded with her own tears and misery. Walking through the corridors of her family's castle did not encourage her, and she tried to remember what always put her in a good mood in her home, go to the forest to ride wild unicorns, make mischief and mess with the monsters that lived near the people, sneak away from her real etiquette lessons to look for an adventure or something entertaining enough to get distracted, among other things.

None of these ideas encouraged her.

What had happened to that daring, carefree, cheerful girl of whom she was so proud to be? She had just collided with the reality that not everything could come out as she expected or wanted. She had run into reality like the collision of a rider at full gallop against a mountain. She being the rider and reality the hard and cold mountain, if it wasn't clear.

She had time to reflect on the past, what things she would have done that day if her situation hadn't changed. If she had agreed to the destruction of the wand, Marco would remain at her side as the good friend he was, but at what price? The destruction of a very powerful family relic, the treasure of her family.

Since her mother told her the ancient tradition of bequeathing the magic wand to the successor princess of the current queen, she lived excited with the idea of the arrival of her fourteenth birthday and having the magic in her possession and doing what she wanted with her newfound power. She had literally drooled moments before her mother gave him the wand, doing little to impart the ceremony and protocol that she had to follow to receive it. Supposedly, she had to act educated and measured at that moment, as her mother repeated a thousand times, but instead she acted so excited that she cared little, as always, that the royal court would see her in her moment of euphoria.

And how excited she was to use it!

Although, she had the occasional accident whilst using it, like burning a couple of houses, exploiting the well of the village of Mewni, creating rainbows that caught fire which caused a couple more fires, it had been exciting and fun!

But her parents did not think her recent exploits were "fun", so it was because of that she ended up on Earth and met Marco.

Her friendship was ... it was very valuable to her, even when she caused some accidents, like making her room disappear into a black hole or even causing a cloud of rain to chase him for the rest of the day she met him, in the end they became good friends.

Recently, she had realised that she had really become very dependent on the wand's magic, to use it in reality with any excuse, to live in a land away from the eyes of her parents gave her the freedom to use it at will without fear of sermons, scolding and stern looks from her parents, especially her mother.

The magic was fabulous! Her mother was always strict in her using it, but without her to scold Star, she used her new power carelessly.

Looking back, she thought that Marco was really patient in several of her experiments with magic many times. She had seen Marco sulking, hysterical, funny, teasing, serious, several facets of this earthling boy, and even when he sulked a little with her for something that she did, he always forgave her. Now, it was obvious he would not.

She squeezed the wand in her hand. Could things be like they were before?

Star's steps took her to the throne room in front of the castle entrance, where her mother and father sat on their thrones and ruled the kingdom.

"Could you move that axe away? It's making me a little nervous," a voice said in a stammering and trembling voice. That voice seemed very familiar.

She looked back at the entrance and found a group of people she did not expect to see in her castle, except now.

"Ferguson? Alfonzo? What are you doing here?"


	6. 6

~ 6 ~

~ Sometimes it's good to have contacts ~  
Ó  
~ They say that love is blind, or that we simply can't control who we fall in love with ~

When Alfonzo and Ferguson visited the Díaz family's home again the next day, they were concerned since Marco missed another day of school, and that could only mean bad things as he is not only the most responsible boy in the whole school but also in the whole city. They find Marco's parents not smiling as much or being cheerful as always.

"Good afternoon, Mrs. Díaz," greets Alfonzo when Angie opened the door for them.

"Good afternoon, Alfonzo," the woman returned his greeting, but her smile is no longer there neither is the characteristic brightness in her eyes.

"Is Marco at home?" Ferguson asked without warning, sometimes he lacks that delicate touch for sensitive situations.

"No, he's not home yet." The shadow of sadness around Marco's mother was accentuated even more, clearly her son's absence was making her unhappy.

"Is it Marco?" Mr. Díaz arrived with a tone that was laced with hope, but it disappeared when he saw his son's friends but not his Marco with them.

They want to help Mr. and Mrs. Diaz and Marco, although it is a little atypical for them to take this kind of initiative.

Normally, it is Marco who is responsible for making plans to help them, from preventing Ferguson from being kidnapped by the opposing football team because he wanted to be their team's new mascot to always bringing dental floss and toothpicks just in case Alfonzo manages to get food stuck between his braces.

However, helping each other is typical of friends, although not all friends have their other friend in a different dimension for who knows what reasons and without any idea how to get there.

What can they do?

"We may be able to help," Alfonzo dared to say when an idea occurred to him, or rather a person who could help.

"How?" asked both parents.

Both young people looked at each other with that simplicity of people who share an experience and a secret.

"Well, we know someone. Do you still have Star's mirror?"

This is how Marco's parents found out that apparently their son has travelled more times to other dimensions and worlds than they were aware of however that doesn't leave them any calmer, and apparently in one of those trips they ended up in the fairies kingdom. They are small, with wings and most are beautiful, but they can also be somewhat intimidating and rude like Mewni's soldiers who they were able to meet that time they asked King River to help them look for their son.

They also learned that this was one of those trips Ferguson and Alfonzo participated in, and that the Empress of the fairies is very, very fascinated by these guys. Apparently, she finds Ferguson's appearance as well as his lazy characteristics very attractive while she finds Alfonzo's shrieking and trembling voice very appealing (the Empress's words) as well as his intellectual capacity and his little arms and thin legs. So much so that apparently, there were a couple of marriage attempts but the details were somewhat fuzzy to the Diaz's between the round-trip comments between their child's friends and needing to stop recounting the story before starting a call through the mirror which is first answered by what seems to be a receptionist or secretary who them immediately passes them on to the Empress once she identifies them.

The empress is beautiful with her blue skin, her purple hair and her butterfly wings that seem to be made of glass or fibres of light. She is elegant, with a flirtatious look, and at all times kept those eyes on the pair of teenagers.

"Oh, if it isn't my two favourite people," she says with a cheerful and sweet tone, but there is also a cold shine in her eyes.

"Oh Empress, you look more radiant than I remembered," it is Alfonzo who first takes the floor among the humans in the room.

"Your voice is so adorable and nice to hear for my eardrums, my dear Alffi, and, oh, does your skin look softer Ferguson? -

"It's a new cream."

The interaction is a bit strange (though the word disconcerting would be more accurate). On the other hand, they notice that there is attraction from the Empress towards the boys for all their characteristics that girls of their age would find unattractive. They say that love is blind, but perhaps in other dimensions their tastes are different, very different, Mr. Diaz reflects.

"My beautiful Empress, it is always a pleasure to hear your beautiful voice and be under the light of your presence or only your image but we want to ask you humbly for a favour my esteemed Empress."

Both parents looked at each other surprised by how polite and eloquent Alfonzo was, but more than that they were amazed at how the Empress of the fairies seemed to radiate happiness with every word said by the boy in glasses. His compliments were really working .

"Ohhhh, for my two favourite guys. They can have whatever they want."

"That's great then, can we really ask for what I wanted ...?" Alfonzo gave a slight nudge to Ferguson's belly. He would not let his impulses start asking for frivolities while leaving aside the reason for this call.

"Your kindness is admirable Empress, like every aspect of you."

"Yes, I know. And what is that favour, my dear ones?"

This is where they really should be very, very careful with their words, since the princess of Mewni and Marco had ruined her two most recent attempts at marriage with Ferguson and Alfonzo. They don't think she would react very happily when they asked for her help to look for any of them .

"We want to go to Mewni," was the impulsive request of Ferguson without thinking through what words to say. "Oof," a nudge from Alfonzo and he saw the sweet look of the fairy change to a serious expression that reminded him that his impulsiveness could already be playing against them. "Please? If it is not too much trouble?" I ask remembering a little bit of the manners that his mother constantly seemed to remind him of because he forgot them so often.

"Why do you want to go to that kingdom? Will you tell me why you want to see the kingdom of that princess?" The Empress did not even bother to hide her tone of anger, or even that glint of jealousy in his eyes.

She had not seen her attractive ex-fiancees for a long time to only have them ask for this kind of favour. She had hoped they would reconsider and accept being her consorts, in her kingdom polygamy was accepted so she could enjoy her two men.

After her second attempt at marriage and the new intervention of the princess of Mewni, Alfonzo was more eloquent and ready to appease the Empress of the fairies with a string of truths and little half lies so that their divorce would not end in an execution or a new career desperate to escape with their lives, because he had managed to conclude his wedding ceremony with everything and kiss, which pleased him and he sometimes boasted it to Ferguson. However, Alfonzo confessed that in his world on Earth, he was not yet old enough to be married, but he promised that when he was immediately of age, he and Ferguson (because she also asked for him) would be the ones who would propose to her with only gifts from Earth.

Well, that was not a total lie, he was sure he would not find any girl as attractive as the Empress in his world unless he was a millionaire and the girl in question was after his fortune, but in this case the one with beauty and fortune was the empress fairy of another dimension, and somehow she found him attractive. That enough was a crazy thing, but considering that it was the fact of having to share her with his friend Ferguson that threatened the reappearance of his dinner. It made him hesitate.

When he reached eighteen, he would see what would happen.

"Your Highness, your kingdom is undoubtedly the greatest of wonders, but our friend went to the kingdom of Mewni and has not returned yet. We are somewhat worried about him. Supposedly, they were asking for help to find out who had kidnapped him the other day, but he has not returned."

"Oh, does this have something to do with the gossip that someone attacked the royalty of Mewni?" asked the fairy. Taking into account that one of the main business of the kingdom of the fairies was the communication between dimensions, it was easy to find out of the news of other kingdoms, whether it was public or not.

"Yes it is."

"Well, intervening with a real investigation could be counterproductive to find the culprit of this attack."

"We know your Highness, but Marco ..."

"OK, I'll do it."

"Heh?"

"We're going to go to the kingdom of Mewni, my precious ones, to look for your little friend," declared the Empress.

"Oh! Thank you, thank you very much, Your Excellency," both Alfonzo and Marco's parents hastened to thank her.

But to be honest, the Empress did not do it only to please her sweethearts, nor because she had a generous heart that would help anyone if they asked, of course not, but she did it more for the personal interest of annoying the royalty of Mewni's research process.

It was their princess who intervened in her two previous engagements. It was she who dared to escape from her dungeons before paying her debt and ruining her wedding. She vaguely remembered the dark-haired human who spoke at her ceremony and she knew that it was his words had made her Fer refuse her at the ceremony, but if it had not been for that odious princess, she would've already been with her treasures in her palace enjoying the marital life.

Alfonzo managed to appease her with his sweet voice and his affectionate words, but her anger to their friend who ruined her marriages and commitments remains lit like fire in red hot coals. She was very tempted to declare war on Mewni for this offence, but with the promise that she only had to wait a couple of years to continue her wedding plans she stopped. She was smart and an open war would affect both kingdoms in an economic and labour sense , as well as an unnecessary loss of personnel and subjects, only a couple of Terran years and her loves would be all hers.

That did not mean that she couldn't sabotage her business with the kingdom a little, as bad service quality in regards to the mirrors during communication and she had already received several complaints about it, or she raised the fees or convinced some of her allies to think it over a couple of times before concluding business with that kingdom.

But this, this could make her happy for the days she had to wait for her wedding with her Fergui and Alffi.

An attack against a royal family of any size was something serious, obviously the kingdoms that still used the monarchies or any form of royalty made them respect their positions with all their strength by reminding their subjects and allies who ruled in their respective kingdoms. If they were put in doubt, this wouldn't only affect the hierarchy of that kingdom but also the negotiations that you had with others. If you were in a critical situation two things could happen with the allies, they would leave you because they do not want to be affected, or they would support you, not before without knowing that they would get some benefit out of it.

Interfering with an investigation locating the source of the attack would delay the capture of the criminal or criminals in question.

It would annoy and keep Mewni's royal family very worried.

And it would not be her exact intentions, she was just "helping" her future consorts.

"I'll open the mirror so you can come, and from here we can go to Mewni," she smiled with all her charm and joy. She got to spend time with her two favourite boys and annoy the royalty of Mewni, it was win / win situation for her.

* + * + *

Its not that he had a watchful eye on the Butterfly family 24/7 but he did have the resources and the time to be informed about the important movements that they make, so he only knew when Queen Moon went to earth and included Marco Diaz into the search a couple of days after said event.

It did not surprise him as it was a course of action expected by the Butterfly family. They would try to gather the as much information as they can about him and then try to find his whereabouts, but he never told the boy any clue as to where he might be, only facts that have already happened and things that the royal family already knew.

Nothing to worry about.

Even so, he has had a bad feeling since he found out.

You could almost say he was worried.

\+ * + * +

Travelling was always an exciting thing for Mr. and Mrs. Diaz, but this time they wanted this trip to end as soon as possible so that the whole family would be reunited and everyone would return home.

Going to the realm of the fairies was like being in a doll or fantasy shop, most of the things were miniature, or rather the proper size suited to the fairies, through the mirror the size of things was deceptive, like how you see things through the television screen and then learn that the film set is actually a miniature model of the city to make things look great. This was a feeling similar to that.

With a few introductions and the brief explanation that they were the parents of Marco, Fer and Al's friend, and the possible man of honour for them in the supposed future wedding, the Empress also let them pass to her castle through her personal mirror to the realm of the fairies.

Ferguson and Alfonzo were already familiar with the place, whereas the Díaz parents looked at everything with amazement in their eyes, the little people, or fairies, were small things that were a little bigger than Rafael's hand. It was as if they were suddenly surrounded by Barbie and Ken dolls that suddenly decided to be alive and start flying. It was a little surreal. In addition to that, the vast majority had a unique beauty, and the most beautiful, which the mirror didn't lie about, was the Empress of them.

Did she really want to marry two human children? It was another thing that they were trying to understand, but instead of making buts or talking about how "unique" that relationship would be, they kept their comments to themselves and waited for the generous help of the Empress.

"Now, get comfortable while I finish making the preparations."

"Preparations?"

"Travelling between dimensions can be done in a matter of seconds, but I am the Empress of the fairies and I have to make a grand entry to maintain my image. We will go in a carriage with some escorts. All for the safety of my treasures," she said flying around the teenagers and blinking her beautiful eyes at them.

About fifteen minutes later, they were in the gardens of the fairy castle, in front of it was an elegant and ostentatious carriage pulled by Pegasus of different bright colours with a golden armour on their pectorals and head like the unicorns of the knights of Mewni, the vehicle was surrounded by a lot of little fairy soldiers, who looked much less tender than the flying Kens that Marco's parents had in mind at first. These seemed to come from action and war movies, muscular and intimidating, armed with axes, swords and shields

"Wow."

"I know, only the best to travel comfortably. Come on, the carriage was a gift from the family of giant dukes who live in the northeastern forest of my kingdom. They made a mistake with the size scale when it was time to build it, but it was so nice and such a good gesture that I did not want to get rid of it of it. Now I'm happy to keep it so that my kids travel comfortably."

"Thank you, your highness."

Fairies liked to travel with luxury and comfort, both outside and inside was a sign of it. Padded seats, walls decorated and carved with figures of a magical forest inlaid with diamonds and gold plate, had enough space for the humans and with plenty still left over.

There are different ways of travelling through dimensions, the most popular or common was using magic scissors that would produce portals through space time through the dimensions, but the Empress preferred to use their own portals. Magic portals made with the crystals of her kingdom, the same material used for mirrors that they sold to different kingdoms so that people could communicate, so to get to Mewni the carriage crossed a huge mirror making them appear in front of the Butterfly family's castle.

In the Empress's opinion, it was a safer way and with more accurate results to travel between dimensions.

They were greeted by the royal guards and immediately the escort of fairies interposed themselves between them and the carriage where their Empress was being transported, arriving so suddenly she would unnerve any guard.

"Who arrives and what is your business?" asked one of Mewni's soldiers. From what happened with the princess, who was very dear to many of the soldiers, everyone was twice as careful and attentive against any threat.

"From the kingdom of Hadapolis, our great sovereign and glorious Empress Titania Mab requests an audience with the Butterfly family to address important issues," communicated the one who seemed to be the leader of the Empress's escort.

Following the protocol of receiving a visitor from the royalty of other kingdoms, they escorted the little Empress and her company inside the castle and for every fairy there was a person of "normal" size accompanying them.

Someone had already sent a message for the sovereigns of Mewni while the Empress was waiting with her companions.

It was then Star found them there in her castle but only being able to see only Ferguson and Alfonzo because everyone else was being hidden by the guards around them. They could be a real visitor, but even so they would not stop "escorting" visitors until their own royalty told them to.

"Ferguson? Alfonzo? What are you doing here?"

"Hey Star, long time no see."

"Your house is huge, but not as much as that of the Empress," said Ferguson, seeing that he would receive another elbow from Alfonzo.

They had to be careful with what they said to the Empress. They already knew how to act when she got upset.

"Empress?" When she came closer, she saw that the teenagers were not alone as next to them was the blue and smiling face of the Empress of the fairies. "Ferguson! Alfonzo! Quick to the side! I'll take care of her before she eats you!" Star shouted, already raising her wand to attack the Empress Titania.

"STAR!" she heard as they shouted at her. In fact, there were several people. She recognised his mother's unmistakable cry full of severity and reproach but apart apart from her Star also heard one full of concern in the voice of Mrs. Diaz, as well as the slightly sharp tone of Mr. Diaz, at that moment she could say that he sounded a little scary. Although, she was not sure as she had never regarded the man with fear but those mixed cries stopped her in her tracks.

"Mom, but it's ... and I ... dangerous and eh ... What are the Diaz's doing here?" everything was so confusing to her in those moments.

"How many times have I told you to keep your composure and take care of your manners? This is not the way to treat royal visitors, although I would also like to know what the Diaz's are doing here."

The Queen approached her daughter still looking at her with reproach. What she didn't need at this time is the Empress of the fairies urged into declaring a war against them, sometimes it was difficult to know how she could react. In most cases, she could be a very reasonable empress, and all her subjects idolised her, but as an enemy she was someone to fear. Her sweet smiles and beautiful appearance hiding someone who could be very ruthless whenever she wanted.

She looked at the humans who accompanied her with strangeness.

"Queen Moon Butterfly, it's a pleasure to see you after so long."

"Empress Titania Meb, the pleasure is all mine. Why is the reason for your sudden visit?"

Greetings full of cordiality and manners, one false step and war could knock on her door.

"Oh dear, I would not bother you with my presence if it was not something important"

"Your presence is not a nuisance Empress." In fact, the Queen wanted to complain about the recent defective services of the mirrors in the palace, she had already raised several complaints but they still did not fix it properly. However, that isn't something that is a topic of discussion among the sovereigns at that time.

"To be honest, this isn't a subject that involves me completely but it does for my dear ones. As I understand, you have one of their friends in your custody."

"Dear ones? I had no idea ... I had no idea that you had suitors now," the fairies can be somewhat capricious, but when they cling or are fond of something it is difficult to make them get rid of it.

That the Empress was interested in someone, or people in plural, was an important detail to know. It was a matter of policy to be informed correctly of changes happening in her allies lives, that information could be benefit them at times.

"Oh, it's something quite recent, but I'm surprised you don't know since your daughter does."

Moon looked at her daughter severely, on the part of that she had not informed her of this fact and because something told her that she had got into trouble so as not to tell her. If for this reason they ended up in war with the fairies, entering her into the boarding school St. Olga's would be definitive.

Star laughed nervously, already suspecting her mother's thoughts. She didn't think that the incident with the Empress of the fairies would end up knocking on her door sooner or later.

But of course, as with most of the time, Star doesn't contemplate much of the consequences of her actions.

"My daughter had been studying elsewhere recently and we still haven't caught up on all her news. We have been busier with recent problems."

"I know," the Empress kept her smile at all times, so Moon couldn't interpret if Titania was making fun of her or not in those moments.

"Bad news travels fast but back to the reason for your visit and I don't think I know who you're talking about. I don't know your loved ones either."

"In fact, I have them here by my side."

"They?" Moon could barely contain the tone of amazement and disbelief when the fairy pointed to a couple of youngsters no older than her own daughter. In fact, there was nothing graceful about them and in her personal opinion were too common and even ugly.

"Charming, right?"

"Yes, although that wouldn't be the word I would use."

"Well, as I was saying, my dear Ferguson and Alfonzo asked me for a little help to get to your beautiful castle. You know that Earth is still far behind when it comes to travelling between dimensions, so I decided to offer my help. They are somewhat worried about their friend, a mmmm ... "

"Marco, my Empress."

"Thanks my Alffi. They want to know if Marco is here and if he is, they wanted to know when he returns with them, even his parents have accompanied us for that same concern."

So that's why the Diaz lords were there, some people could be so impatient.

"Marco? But that's impossible, I haven't seen him since ... since I returned to Mewni. Mom?" Star was confused by this information. It was true that she had not left her room practically at all since her argument with Marco, but she was sure that her parents would inform her if they had brought Marco to the castle, right?

"Dear, you were too tired and dejected to deal with this matter. Your father and I decided it was better not to inform you at this time of our actions."

"So Marco is in the castle? Since when? Where?"

"Well, in the place we normally use for interrogations, as always."

"What place?"

"The dungeon dear, I put him in the dungeon."

"Why did you do that?" Marco's parents almost shouted at the same time, of all things, they didn't expect Mrs. Butterfly to do that. If before they were worried, they were now one step away from a panic attack.

"I'm sure it's just a misunderstanding. I know my son perfectly and I know he wouldn't do anything like that to end up in a dungeon."

"Of all the places you could do it, why interview him in a dungeon?"

Marco's mum and dad finally decided to speak up. They had let the Empress conduct the conversation because it seemed like the easiest way to proceed, but finding out that her child had ended up in a place like that by simply questioning made them talk.

"We are of very different classes, you wouldn't understand."

They didn't flinch at that dismissive phrase, since they had heard it throughout their lives for so many years that it was easy for them to ignore it.

Their city is nice and they live in a neighbourhood that accepts people with every kind of differences, but they know very well that not everyone in the world is like that.

At different times in their respective lives, they sometimes clashed with people who by their way of thinking did not accept what was different, or what they thought was different by belittling them.

They were Latino, with slightly tanned skin naturally, brown hair and brown eyes. Was it wrong to be like that? Of course not, but some people considered that they were not characteristic of a typical "American".

"Frijoleros", "immigrant", "wet" and other series of more bombastic and unpleasant words they come to listen. There was once after a terrorist attack that someone mistook them for Muslims, or something like that and they started screaming at them with a string of rudeness about not going down on American soil and that their people should leave THEIR country; When they clarified that they were Mexicans, he seemed only slightly embarrassed but did not apologise.

There would always be people who thought they were better than others because of their appearance, because they seemed more "American", because they were rich, because they had a better social position than others, but that did not make them good or better.

Many times they prayed that their son would not face the worst of these people, but there were a couple of times that he also had to suffer discrimination.

Parents always want their children not to suffer what they once suffered, but it was sometimes inevitable. However, many things are inevitable in this life.

"Listen, Mrs. Butterfly, we understand that you have your "ways" of doing things, but we never conceived or thought that you would put my son in a dungeon. They took him from his school and we waited all this time for him to come back. We have not talked to him since you took him away."

"Excuse me, but it is the best place to do such things. There are no distractions in that place so the individual are able to answer more quickly," she did not seem embarrassed by her actions. In reality, the Queen explained this to them as if they were children on how they should do things.

"We just want to take our son home."

"I'm sorry, but you can not do it. It's still necessary that Marco Diaz give us more information." For example, to find out if Toffee has told him other terrible things about the true history of her kingdom.

Moon Butterfly did not want to let Marco go until he told her everything he knew, no matter how small it was, and if possible, erase the part of Mewni's past from his mind. The less people that knew, the better.

"Mom, are you serious?" Star stared in amazement at her mother. Did she not see how worried Mr. Diaz was? She could almost see the tears in their eyes.

"I am."

She was the queen, and what she said was law.

Titania continued with her smile following the discussion, so Marco was very valuable for the queen's investigation. This was just more reason she couldn't leave him here for another minute.

"Oh dear, from what I understand, you took him without his parents' permission."

"I didn't have time to communicate with them."

"Even so, that is discourteous. Do not you see how worried they are now?" Titania pointed to Marco's parents, Angie Diaz seemed to holding back to not say anything else and Rafael Diaz already had his nerves destroyed.

However, Moon did not flinch.

"I didn't have time for it. I have more important issues to attend to, like find the one that attacked my family, for example."

"Yes, I understand your problem very well. But they are right in claiming their son right now."

"Excuse me?" Of all those present, she expected the Empress to understand her position. The decisions they made were for the good of her kingdom.

"You being so careful with protocol and the manners, you must remember that your kingdom signed like many others the inter-dimensional agreement of 'Correct forms and protocols between neighbours'."

"I'm very familiar with that agreement, to avoid conflicts or unnecessary wars it is necessary to know the manners of other cultures to avoid any offences. What does that have to do with what's happening now?"

"Well, you broke the agreement."

"What? I've never done that? Have I offended you in any way?"

"Not me. To them. Certainly, Earth isn't so closely related to the inter-dimensional policy, but since other kingdoms interact with it, at least by word it is within the agreement of 'Correct forms and protocols between neighbours'. Especially you should know, since you asked people in this kingdom to take care of your beloved daughter, so you accepted in turn to integrate them into the agreement in person, maybe not consciously, but that's the way it is. You accepted that they took care of her, that she was educated in their culture, and in their legal aspects as well. As far as I know, if a person is still considered a minor, they can not accept or make certain decisions, such as marrying or going elsewhere without the permission of their guardians or parents."

Each and every word was true and Queen Moon knew it. Titania knew it too. It was another reason why she had not jumped into war and kidnapped her loved ones for a wedding. Although simple, an agreement that was mainly about respect and cordiality, had avoided very important wars or invasions between dimensions throughout the years since it was signed.

In fact, it was an ancestor of the Butterfly family that was one of the main founders of the agreement with a fairy emperor, the grandfather of the same Titania, and other powerful kingdoms.

With this agreement, trade and relations between people of other dimensions ran like a charm, and broke, in the smallest case you paid a fine, at worst you could end up outside the agreement and break important relationships, business and be vulnerable before other dimensions.

Was it a risk that Moon Butterfly would dare to take?

And who would back up Earth?

The smile of the Empress answered that second question. If her supposed loved ones were of that dimension, she had also included Earth within the agreement. If there was an offence against the treaty she could intervene, other dimensions in solidarity with Hadapolis would be against her, a political chaos, a possible war. All because a queen had not asked a couple of parents to take their son.

This was a more imminent threat than that Toffee.

"That's ... right," it physically hurt her to admit that the fairy was correct. She had made a mistake, that although small, if not handled properly, would bring chaos to her kingdom.

"Get the boy Moon, let's not wait for his worried parents."

Moon nodded and motioned for a guard to bring him.

If she could, she would at that moment laugh openly at the faces that she put on the Queen of Mewni, and the Princess who's face shone with confusion. She was a lost puppy without knowing how to react to this situation. Her mother had been wrong. The perfect and always correct Queen Moon Butterfly had been wrong.

"Don't push, don't push," a voice told someone towards the left side of the room as a door opened where a boy with misaligned clothes and a tired expression came out.

"MARCO!"

"Mum? Dad?"

And the reunion is moving, the parents running to meet the son as the Empress's Fer and Alffi looked at her with admiration. She could get used to it.

"I think that will be all for the moment Queen Moon. Now, dear, it's time to leave."

While the group of fairies and humans began to march away, Star saw the Diaz family go.

"Wait, wait. I, Marco, I didn't know." She really wanted to stop them, explain, although she doesn't know what to explain because she doesn't really know what happened just now.

Marco doesn't stop. He just kept walking with his mum and Mr. Diaz is the one who faces her.

"Another time, Star, right now we just want to go home."


	7. 7

~ 7 ~

~ Life is a series of unexpected events, for the only thing we could be prepared to know is that nothing is predictable ~

Toffee wasn't worried, not worried at all. He was just curious, although it did not help anything because it's that annoying curiosity that made him wonder how the earthling was doing.

It had been expected that the queen would request the presence of the young Marco Diaz to obtain information, but the dungeon?

He wasn't one to criticise data capture and collection methods. He had kidnapped Marco once, given him a scare to death, and broken a friendship with that of the princess of Mewni.

At least he had made sure that in his obligatory stay he was comfortable, he had offered him a comfortable seat and food, although his bad manners had taken away the privilege of the cushioned chair (throwing his sandwich at the wall was something very rude). At least he had tried to keep Marco in a comfortable, dry place, in view to make sure of its condition.

He was sure that putting an "ally" in a dungeon was much more discourteous than putting an "enemy" in a comfortable cell.

However, this was not a matter of being a good host with prisoners or allies, it was the fact that the royalty of Mewni was so hypocritical, so insufferable. If the tree from the root is rotten, it is to be expected that all the branches and fruits are equal .

He could tell that everyone had been surprised to learn that Marco had been in a dungeon. It was the new juicy gossip that circulated among the different realms and dimensions, as well as the fact that the Empress of the fairies, the beautiful and feared Titania, had intervened to get him out of there at the request of her suitors, which was what was most commented (for the first time in a long time there was someone who drew the attention of the Empress of the empire of the fairies in this way), so among the dimensions they asked what kind of people the suitors of Titania were.

One of the many pieces of information that he had collected thanks to the time he was pretending to be Ludo's ally was that apparently, the Princess of Mewni and company had gone to visit Hadapolis and of the rumours that he had collected thanks to that visit there was an incident with the queen of the fairies, but nothing clear.

He had let it go thinking that it didn't have much importance for his plans, but now he reproached himself because he didn't know what exactly happened and he now lacks information.

The fairies though small and delicate-looking creatures could be real fearful beings. Their magic was powerful and compared to their size their strength and speed were incredible, only one could be manageable, but when they attacked in large numbers like a swarm the most intelligent to do was to flee to save their physical integrity and life.

What kind of impression had Marco Diaz left on the Empress of the fairies as to why lengths that she was intervened in his captivity? How did she find out about this same situation?

He was not worried.

Although, it presented a somewhat annoying current interest about recent events.

There were many uncomfortable doubts that ran through his mind thanks to all these unforeseen events. He had to do something to alleviate them.

* + * + *

The Díaz parents returned home once more with their son, relieved that their son was safe and sound with them and in their dimension. (If their son kept disappearing in this way one of them was going to have a heart attack)

They wholeheartedly thanked the queen / empress / monarch / their excellency Titania. They even tried to offer presents, although very improvised, they were not people with much luxury, so they offered things that they thought or imagined that a fairy would like.

They offered her the backyard wind mobile that had plastic butterflies; fruit that they thought that in the world of the fairies they would consider exotic (many of the city considered papaya, guayaba and mamey very exotic); snow spheres to remember your travels; one of the cactus in the garden opposite, among other things.

In fact, it was the cactus with which she was most interested in, commenting that she could threaten her subjects with finishing pricking them with thorns if they were to commit any fault. The Diaz's simply smiled nervously at that comment.

The ones that she reacted with the most emotional signs of gratitude were the gifts given by Ferguson and Alfonzo, the pair of teenagers thanking her for the rescue of their friend and following the example of the Díaz gentlemen ended up giving her something. Ferguson gave her half a bottle full of cream in his backpack and Alfonzo with a little more detail decided to try a little more to give something that he thought would serve his "fiancée" however the best thing that occurred was to give her his beloved scientific calculator.

"Oh my dear ones, thank you very much for your presents. We'll see each other soon," the Empress said goodbye, but not before giving her boys a couple of pocket mirrors that would help them communicate with her in a completely free service.

Considering how strict the fairies were with the payments of the communication services of their mirrors, what she had just given them was a great luxury.

Having her escort carefully place the thank-you presents in the carriage back to its dimension, she thought it was a pity she was not able to spend more time with her beloved ones, but she was still a very busy Empress and suddenly leaving her safe position she had accumulated some duties. She would see if she could reorganise her schedule later to get to spend more time with her loved ones, that she had to wait until they reached the age of majority to turn them into her consorts, not forcibly preventing her from spending time with them.

Seeing the Empress leaving, only the humans remained in the house.

"I'm very surprised that you managed to convince the Empress of the fairies to help you," Marco commented to his friends, he had already thanked his parents, Titania herself and his friends for coming to look for him.

Spending the night in a dark, cold and desolate dungeon was one of the worst things that had happened in his life, followed closely by spending a day with wet socks and being almost crushed to death.

"That girl is not able to escape my charms," Ferguson presumed.

"To me what surprises me is about the errmm ... the fondness she has for Alfonzo and Ferguson," his mother commented.

"Then you'll have to tell us how you met that lady, or young lady? How old is your Highness Titania really? It is difficult to know with her appearance," Rafael had asked the question for some time.

"A woman is never asked her age, dear, and leaving that aside, thank heaven and that queen you're back home son. It's still hard for me to believe that Queen Moon has put you in a ... in a ... I did not think she was that kind of person when I met her," Angie hugged her son with love and concern in her heart.

Angie Diaz prided herself on being a cheerful and judicious woman with regards to the first impressions she had of people. She was rarely wrong to know if someone was good or bad, no matter how they looked on the outside. After trying for some time with a person, she could judge whether they had goodness inside of them.

Of the few times she dealt with the rulers of Mewni, including the very brief introduction by the headmaster of her son's school informing them that they would have a new girl living in their house, the time that King River came to pass his days at their home or when they asked for help to rescue Marco, she realised that they were serious people, especially Queen Moon, but she did not feel something bad in them. Maybe, she could say that the queen was cold, but from that to being someone to put her son in a dungeon to interrogate him like he was a vile criminal. She didn't expect it.

She definitely did not want that woman to approach her son or her family again if possible.

"I was surprised too. She asked me to tell her what had happened when Toffee kidnapped me, and I did, but then he became more demanding, and then when I told her the things he said, she apparently didn't like me."

"What did that villain say to you?"

"When his plan failed and he blew up the castle he escaped and took me with him. He did not say much but there was something that surprised me, he clarified a bit on what motivated him to do what he did."

"There is nothing that justifies doing evil acts, son."  
"I know mum, but it helped me understand why he acted like that. It's not like Ludo who wanted the wand to become the new King of Mewni or something like that, he's a different kind of villain, of person. He told me that the ancestors of the Butterfly family did not come to Mewni to colonise it as a virgin and free land, they came to a land that already had its own culture, its own people, and it was stolen, and whoever opposed them was killed. He lost his whole family for it."

A silence settled in the room when Marco finished speaking, even Ferguson knew he had to keep quiet and not say of one of his silly comments.

The Diaz's would never encourage evil acts, but like their son, they could understand the motivation of people.

Ferguson, Marco and Alfonzo who were involved almost obligated by Star to participate in the representation of their day of "Mewnipendency" could say how the monsters felt that day. Even just being a representation, they felt very helpless when they played the role of monster or a braggart with too much advantage if they played the role of Mewni's soldiers.

"Even so, Queen Moon had no right to leave you in a dungeon for being told some history," Rafael said shaking his head.

"What happened dad is that this version is apparently one that almost nobody knows, or at least it seems."

"It's true. The story that Star told us about the colonisation of Mewni was very different," corroborated Alfonzo.

"So that lady only got angry for saying something she didn't want to hear, like my mom when she goes to the doctor and they tell her not to eat bread, and she loves bread." Ferguson saw things in a simple way.

"I think that Queen Moon was very extremist, unfair, very ... "

"Mala?"

"Exactly son. I don't like to label people with that word but her behaviour left a lot to be desired. If it wasn't for your friends, who knows how long it would've took before we saw you again?"

"I know. Did I say thank you?"

"About a dozen times Marco."

"But if you want to give more thanks, better invite us for something to eat."

"Is it true, are you hungry, son?"

"Actually, a lot mom." Marco had not eaten anything since Queen Butterfly had gone looking for him.

While the Diaz's quickly prepared something to eat, someone watched from outside. It was not the most sophisticated method and it certainly was not the wisest. It would have been better to choose another method of espionage more secure like sending a camera, but no, in a very improper act, he had decided to go in person to investigate what happened and in broad daylight.

Maybe he had caught a bit of stupid after dealing with that pathetic Ludo so long. It was a horrible idea to think.

And then he would analyse what he heard, at least it had not been a waste of time.

He had learned that the Empress had a certain affection for the friends of Marco Diaz, so much so as to do them the favour of going to look for their friend and to face Queen Butterfly (that ignorant queen could not bear to hear the truth as much as alter it) and that Marco was back at home with his family, safe and sound.

Even if he denied it inside, he was relieved by that, and maybe he was only a little concerned to know that the human had been held captive by the monarch of Mewni.

* + * + *

From a very young age, Star was able to do what she wanted, although many times she got into trouble by annoying her parents and creating one or another disaster. But to be honest, she never worried much about it.

Having the title of Princess saved you from many problems, most of the things she didn't consider to be that bad, and many of her antics ended with a severe scolding from her parents, the odd threat of sending her to St. Olga's, and a look of disapproval from her mother. Nothing she wasn't used to.

Neglected, impulsive, unreasonable, reckless, etc. They were adjectives that her parents and several nobles of the Mewni court came to describe her, but that never let her down.

However, now she had an unpleasant and uncomfortable feeling in her chest, one she had not felt in a long time. She doesn't remember a time that she had felt it with this intensity either, and the only way she could label it was like the worry of 'what will they think of me?'.

And it was not for her parents, not even for those stretched out in the court, or the humble subjects of her people, but for the kind and friendly family that welcomed her into their land, Mr. and Mrs. Diaz.

She was barely processing that she had ruined one of the best friendships in her life with Marco, and now without having done anything, Mr. and Mrs. Diaz would surely not be very happy now for what her mother did. She could even imagine that they maybe hated her family.

Why was this happening? Why?!

These were some of the worst days of her life.

Star had no idea what she could do to fix all this. She couldn't just twist her little wand and magically change everything ... or could she? ... no, not really. There are things that even magic couldn't fix for her.

Besides, she didn't know any spell capable of achieving that goal. With her luck, she would end up ruining everything even more.

In these moments, she really missed Marco's advice or Ponyhead trying to cheer her up.

And she wanted to know exactly what happened whilst she was in her room but she was not in enough of a good mood to ask anyone or see her mother's face. Of all the places, of all the methods, she had to put Marco in a dungeon, and well, that place was not very fun or comfortable or hygienic. She didn't think that the brunette would have been very happy to be there.

Yes, surely he wouldn't be very happy about it.

Things that were going from bad to worse were increasing.

And what awaited her in the future would not treat her very well either.

* + * + *

It had been a couple of days since Marco returned from Mewni and after suffering practically two kidnappings in less than a week Angie and Rafael Díaz were in parent over protective mode. Now, in addition to dropping him off to secondary school and his karate classes, he was now personally called at every break, lunch time and at the end of the school day to know exactly where they were.

Marco loved his parents and he understood why they did all this, but it seemed a little exaggerated to be called so often. Even for the one who was considered the safety boy of the whole school, but then he also thought that it was better to be safe than sorry.

But that was not the bad thing in those days, people kept asking about Star.

Since Star came to the school, she was very flashy, cheerful and even quirky presence. She was not hateful like other girls and her craziness was not repelling, so becoming popular in her classroom and part of high school was not difficult.

Just hearing her name made Marco become serious, quiet, almost in a bad mood.

And maybe he could choose to tell everyone everything she did, what she was really capable of doing for her "friends" like him, so they would know how good a friend Butterfly would be, but he was not that kind of person.

It wasn't worth it.

So every time they asked, he told them again and again that she had returned home because of certain matters, and if they asked when she was going to come back he would simply say "I don't know".

Those days when they were laughing together or he was trying to explain to Star how things on Earth worked seemed so far away. He was angry with her, he was still angry, as well as disappointed and hurt, and what sometimes put him in a bad mood when he started thinking about her was that he knew that a certain part of him missed her.

Now that the event had cooled over a bit, he spent a lot of time thinking about it and became aware of that little part that missed her.

To the naive friend on many subjects, to the girl who was feminine in some aspects and be as rude as a motorcyclist in others without losing her smiles, to whom brought much emotion to his life along with several headaches.

It is not so easy to forget a friend, even if they have hurt or betrayed you.

Things could have been different with just one decision.

But the past can't be changed, and he was very aware of how dangerous it could be to mess with time to want to go back to change things.

What to do from now on? For the moment, continue with his life, thank everything for being alive, and learn to live with one friend less.

And while Marco Diaz processed the revelations that came with maturity, another person began to worry about his own behaviour.

Toffee could say to himself that this was just one more step in gathering information, but he knew that Marco Diaz couldn't offer him anymore information necessary for his plans, which if he considered in practical terms what he was doing was a waste of time.

The boy was already well, he seemed healthy and the interaction with his surroundings seemed normal. The Princess Butterfly was no longer at his side and the Queen hasn't returned to get more information, and yet here he was hidden, watching him in the distance.


	8. 8

~ 8 ~

When the weekend arrived, the Diaz family decided that it was necessary to relax a bit. With so many strong emotions in the last few days, they craved something mundane and monotonous. It would be refreshing doing something normal and in the family like visiting their beloved Abuela Diaz would help in that, so when the weekend came they got into the car and drove to their abuela's house.

Rafael's mother lived in the same city but a little far away from the Díaz house, practically at the other end of the city. It was a nice house of a style very similar to that of her son and daughter-in-law, with the difference that her patio was full of different types of jungle plants, that gave it the effect of almost looking like a mini forest or jungle, and had a nice blue colour on the walls.

"Abuela!" When the car stopped, the youngest of the Diaz's immediately began running to the entrance of the house where a somewhat small old woman waited.

"My, look how you've grown my Marquitos."

Marco loved his grandmother, the big hug they shared demonstrated that.

María del Rosario Pérez Gutiérrez de Díaz, or Abuela, Doña or Nana Mari, was an older woman with a small appearance. Her previously brown hair in her youth was silver as moonlight and her smooth, young skin had suffered the ravages of time. Even so for her children and grandchildren, she was a very beautiful woman inside and out.

Nana Mari was Rafael's mother and his two other brothers who didn't live in this city. The house where she lived was the same one in which she had lived with her husband and brought up her children, although now she lived alone. Her house was careful to have every impeccable memory and decoration, and being a woman who had lived many years, she had the house full of these memories and decorations.

Outside, he could see on some ceramic or wood figures hanging on the walls ranging from being a representation in masks of the sun and the moon, to a small wooden church that a couple of times had served as a nest for birds since it was hollow inside.

Once entering the house, he could still smell the plants from the outside and some that were in pots inside, small ferns and flowers and he could see a lot of paintings hanging on the walls, family portraits that included a wedding photo of Nana Mari and her late husband to portraits of their children when they were babies to photos of family reunions, trips and parties, walls full of memories. Marco already knew where his parents had taken the idea of dedicating one of the walls of the room for all those children who had stayed at home.

"I'm so glad to have you visit. You've grown a lot my child, you're already taller," Nana Mari said grabbing the cheeks of her beloved grandchild, as every grandmother admired the growth and praised in her own way the appearance of her little grandson. "Come on, I've just prepared some lemonade."

"It's a pleasure to see you again Doña Mari."

"As well as you Angi. And Rafael, you look a little tired, have you returned from one of your trips?"

It was incredible the intuition that some mothers have without even communicating things with words.

"Something like that mom. Let's say we've had a lot of strong emotions lately." Rafael was not going to tell his mother about all the problems they had lived through in those last days, like how her grandson had been kidnapped a couple of times, that they had travelled to other dimensions and other things of that type. He didn't want to scare her.

"The young and their strong emotions. I don't understand these fashions now. In my time, it was enough to spend time at home and playing with the neighbours."

"Hahahaha, that fun never goes out of style mom."

Actually, they will gladly return to that routine fun to rest from the surprises for a while.

"And tell me? How have you been? We have not talked in person for a long time."

The family looked at each other trying to see who would dare to speak first or see who would come up with something to say. On the way in car, they agreed not to tell Nana Díaz things that could affect her nerves like kidnappings, beings of other dimensions and queens with serious problems with common sense.

"Eh ... we have new puppies in the house," it was Marco who came to talk about it.

"Puppies! I love puppies! I remember when my children had their own puppy, it was such a good dog."

"Oh yes, I remember a lot about Pancho, he was a great dog. He was like another brother in the family."

"Speaking of pets. How are yours Doña Díaz?"

"In the garden, the climates been so good today that they are surely taking a nap in the sun."

* + * + *

Ruins, less than ruins. There was absolutely nothing.

The castle, a once imposing and shadowy one, was now only dust and ashes.

"Damn you, Star Butterfly!" Ludo shouted loudly as he kicked the ground as hard as he could, but with his luck being as bad as it was in the end, he hit one of the few remaining stones of the castle. "Auch!"

He grabbed his injured foot and started jumping on the other one because of the pain. It didn't take long for him to lose his balance in a couple of seconds and fall flat on the floor writhing in pain.

In a tantrum worthy of the worst spoiled child, he screamed rolling down the remains of his castle. He had lost everything, his castle, his henchmen, the machine that made milkshakes and sodas (those things had cost a lot) and he had lost the opportunity to steal Star Butterfly's wand.

He had it so close to him but in the last second he had ended up devoured by the chicken man. The slimy sensation as he had been swallowed had been one of the most disgusting moments of his life. Even having survived that, he was reborn in a way, since in an ironic twist the same monster that ate him "ejected", to put it politely, in an egg. Now, he wasn't so sure that the chicken man was really a "man" or a "chicken" really, maybe he was just a chicken?

Once he grew tired from his tantrum, he stared at the sky.

There was no stars to see that night.

Ludo was slow to understand that he was now completely alone. He had nothing.

And because of this fact, the childish hatred and the selfish ambition that he had within him grew, matured you could say. He had a clear goal in mind now. He would recover everything and more than what he had lost that day, and he would take revenge on that little princess and he would have her wand, and he would also make that lizard that stabbed him in the back pay.

* + * + *

Marco Diaz was not at home, nor were his parents actually in the house.

The house was empty, except for those hairy beasts, a small pack of canine puppies with obviously no training to defend a house from strange intruders. Proof of this was the ease in which he could walk around the house without them doing anything but growling and barking at him a few times, throwing lasers from their eyes without control, and the minute play between them distracting them from the recent intruder.

If these hairy beasts received a good training, they would be an excellent defence for any home. It was one of the many weaknesses that had made it so easy to take Marco the last time.

In retrospect, the humans in this region lived very confidently, with little security for their homes, without the fear that a stranger would get into their house and take something or someone, apparently this region lived in peaceful times. Or at least almost all the time.

It was not the same to see the house from a screen or from the outside looking inside.

It was not very large but not very small either, it had several hand-made decorations and photos, dozens of them of different people and others of the family hanging on the walls. Climbing the stairs acting as a timeline were several photos of the family, the wedding of Mr. and Mrs. Diaz, photos of them in different places, a baby, a small human with large bright eyes held by two loving parents, a baby that grew little little by little in the images in front of his eyes, a boy who went to school and grew up until he was a young man with the mixture of traits from both his parents.

A family and a home that felt safe. It seemed an eternity since Toffee had something similar.

He finished climbing the stairs to where a hallway showed two doors. One was taken to the Princess Mewni's room and the other was Marco Diaz's.

\+ * + * +

Nana Díaz did not have fat and spoiled cats, or chihuahua puppies or any other race that hysterically barked at the postman, although not because she didn't like any of those pets, but for the fact she already had some very special ones to her.

Nana Díaz had iguanas, and not small ones that could be mistaken for lizards, but large ones that could easily scare the postman without barking.

Those iguanas were huge. Marco always thought they seemed like small living dinosaurs that walked freely in the jungle that was the backyard of his grandmother's house.

They were somewhat exotic creatures and some neighbours even feared being near the garden of Nana Díaz because they feared the unique pets with some children who lived nearby even making the rumour that grandmother Díaz was a kind of jungle witch and that's why she had those strange plants in her garden and she had these strange creatures as pets. Personally, the grandmother thought the imagination of the children was funny.

For Marco, his grandmother's pets did not seem strange to him, as he had grown up knowing them. They were nice although their appearance might seem a little intimidating to some. They were reptiles with scaly skin and ridges on their backs like a Mohican hairdo, they had small claws that served to climb trees and a tail that seemed to make up half of their body and that dragged along whilst walking.

Now the Diaz family was in the garden enjoying the shade of the trees and the company of Nana Díaz's pets.

Marco's parents were sitting in a hammock between two large palm trees, while Marco and his grandmother were sitting in chairs in the garden.

At that time, Marco was watching one of the iguanas eat, it was the female,called Yuyu, as she ate her tomato pieces. She was sloppy and dirty, and the iguana's face was dirty with tomato juice. But for some reason, this eating iguana reminded him of a certain other reptile a little more elegant at mealtime.

"What do you have on your mind Marco?"

"Heh? Nothing Nana, I'm fine."

"Don't lie to your grandmother, I've already told you that the coconut witch eats lying children."

"Ha ha ha, I'm too old to believe in the coconut witch Nana." He was now big enough to know that there were other types of monsters, some more terrifying than others. "but you're right, I ... I feel a little depressed."

"Tell your Nana why you feel that way."

A lot of things had happened, and Marco knew he couldn't tell her everything but he could still ask for advice.

"Well, a few days ago, a girl disappointed me a lot."

"Oh my boy, who was she? What did she do?"

"It was a new exchange student, we got along well. I thought she was my real friend, but when I needed her help, she disappointed me by not helping."

One of the values that Nana Díaz was proud of having taught her children and grandchildren was loyalty, loyalty to your family, to your friends, to your convictions, to yourself. If you showed that kind of loyalty to the people around you, it could be reciprocal but sometimes it came to ungrateful people.

"That happens, my child. Sometimes we expect a lot from the people we think we know."

"I know," he had believed that he could count on Star whenever he needed it, that she would rescue him, but that was sadly not the case.

"But don't get discouraged because of that child, it's in these kind of situations when you know who your real friends are. They are those who are not only with you in the good but also in the bad, and will come when you need them."

With that comment, he remembered Alfonzo and Ferguson, they were there when he needed it. He had real friends. He just had to remember that.

"In addition, just because someones shows themselves to not be a true friend, does not mean that you aren't. Maybe this girl needs to know what a true friend is to know how to be one."

"I really was her friend Nana."

"I didn't say you weren't, only you know what you did. But if you are so sad about this, it means that you cared. If you wish, you can recover that relationship."

"I don't know."

If he so desired. Did he want to have something to do with Star Butterfly now?

"Only time will tell, son. Now pass me another piece of tomato, here comes Pepe, you know that later he'll want to steal Yuyu's food."

Effectively between the plants came a larger iguana than the one they were watching, because of its characteristics you could tell it was a male. Pepe was Yuyu's partner. Yuyu had first arrived in Nana's life as a gift from a cousin and as one of her children thought that the iguana probably was very lonely not having another animal as she decided to give her mother another. The surprise came when they learned that Pepita, now Pepe, was male when a dozen small iguanas appeared walking through the garden after a few months of the pair of iguanas living together. It turns out that Pepe embarrassed Yuyu, and Yuyu had placed the eggs in one of the corners hidden in the garden.

These iguanas were given to other people or veterinarians, and there were even times when a new iguana appeared in the garden from time to time if they didn't watch the pair of lovers.

"This pair reminds me of someone."

"Who do you remember that are like my precious ones?"

"A person I met the other day. Something like a bad boy I ... annoyed, but then I knew that he had nothing against me, he just had his own problems-

"My precious are not bad guys, except that time that Pepe bit your cousin because he kept pulling his tail."

"Hahahaha. Since that day, he has had a fear of them."

"That happens for being so naughty. How is that boy like my precious ones?"

In many, many ways. He probably belonged to the same species of reptiles, but he was not going to say that to his grandmother.

"Mmmm, maybe his eyes ... his look, is serious or boring."

"Then he has pretty eyes like my Yuyu and Pepe."

"I wouldn't use those words."

"Maybe he can become your friend, as the saying goes, one door closes and another one opens. Maybe you lost a friend, but if you try it you can win another friend."

His grandmother's suggestion surprised him. Toffee's friend?

"Ehhh ... maybe," that wasn't quite a lie, but neither was it true.

He hadn't ended up hating Toffee even after everything he did, but even so he didn't think they would become friends. He didn't even know if he would ever see him again. He doubted it though. After all, he had already taken advantage of what he wanted to get out of there, and after Queen Moon, Marco didn't want to interact with beings of other dimensions or have any inter-dimensional trips for a long while.

For now, he wanted enjoy his day with his beloved Nana.


	9. 9

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Need to finish editing

~ 9 ~

Thanks to the visit to Nana Díaz the family felt better, they had had a great time chatting, eating, feeding the iguanas and watching one of the Mexican comedy films that Nana liked so much.

Talking to her had been helpful to Marco, it felt good to talk to someone with a different point of view on what happened. He had left her house with a few new thoughts.

Marco had many things whirling around in his head, but after the discussion with his Nana, he felt things were clearer.

As the family arrived home very late, Marco immediately went to his room and prepared to sleep with the puppies following him at all times waiting for their owner to give them a couple of caresses while doing his daily routine of brushing his teeth, washing his face and putting on his pajamas to go to bed where all the puppies would then jump into his bed and lay on and around Marco like a living blanket of puppies.

It was actually a very comfortable way to sleep.

He devotes one last thought to Star and Toffee before falling asleep with the thought that sometime in the future he may stop being disappointed and angry with Star, but that did not mean he would forgive her. Would he ever one day? Only time would tell. And Toffee ... Toffee really had eyes like his Nana's iguanas, would she get along with Toffee if she got to know him?

* + * + *

Toffee had not found much in the abode where Princess Butterfly lived on Earth as her ostentatious room was a mess of clothes, weapons, furniture, some magical artefacts and random items. Considering that she's a royal, her room's disorder equalled the mess of a barn full of pig goats. In fact, those animals were far more orderly compared to the princess.

And what was seen just entering her room was only the tip of the iceberg of the deplorable disorder. Under the bed, in the drawers, under the carpet, there seemed to somehow be even more mess but the worst was the closet, there were so many things piled up that some of the piles seemed to look like small mountains. He later found out that there was apparently a spell of expansion that made this room much bigger than it seemed from the outside. How was it that one person could find something in this disaster? Only with magic, surely the princess did not bother looking for some things and invoked them immediately from her little wand, accumulating even more items for her collection of different things. What other explanation could there be?

Apart from learning that the princess had a tendency to compulsively accumulate absurd things, such as hair, magazines, invocations and tricks of her wand, he could not take much advantage of what he found. He had found a kind of diary, but the writing was like that of a five-year-old child.

"Mom has popo's head"

"Hitting monsters is fun"

"Ponnyhead is my best friend"

And other things like that written on paper.

There wasn't anything useful in her room.

The spell book of the royal family is also nowhere to be found, though it is probably because the princess or her family took it with them back to Mewni. He had hoped that he could have the opportunity to seize it if the princess forgot it in her human residence and thus have access to even more secrets of the wand that he did not know about.

Taking advantage of the fact that the house was empty had not worked, until he remembered the other room down the corridor, and now knowing the disorder and carelessness of the princess who left all her things everywhere, there was still a possibility that she had left something in the room of the other teen who lived in the Diaz's house.

Crossing the hallway, he looked at the door and opened it. As he had already made a break-in, Toffee figured seeing another room in the house would not change anything.

Compared to the princess's room, Marco Diaz's room was much tidier and though it was small in size and had fewer things, it felt much more liveable and cosy than the room of the Princess of Mewni.

Not that Toffee was saying it was impeccable as it had some small things out of place like the karate belt hung on the back of a chair in front of the desk with some open books on it, a pair of worn shoes by the side of the bed and a few posters stuck on the walls, but in general it was very well ordered for a teenagers room.

He kept in mind that he should be more careful not to cause disorder in this room when looking for something because there was a higher chance the human might notice that someone has been in his room if he felt that something was out of place.

There were shelves with books, ornaments and comics that were neatly arranged, drawers with perfectly folded clothes and a closet practically full of red hoodies with the occasional formal shirt and a pair of suits, one of them being made of sequins and black cloth. It wasn't any type of tuxedo or formal suit that Toffee was accustomed to seeing as this was a Mariachi suit made personally by Marco Díaz.

It was quite peculiar and he wondered briefly what the human would look like dressed up in it.

He put aside the idea of the human being dressed differently and returned to the present, attempting to find something that he could use against Mewni's monarchy, though unlikely the princess would have left something useful in the house or in the room of her former friend.

Although, he tried to be thorough in his investigation by even checking under the bed despite only finding a football and some worn and old magazines.

Apart from finding a pair of hair ornaments that were of the style that the princess used, he did not find anything in the room of the young Diaz that was useful to his plans. He had only learned that Marco Diaz liked the colour red and hoodies, that he was an ordered boy, had a collection of psychology books for beginners taking up an entire shelf on the bookcase, and that there was a pleasant aroma permeating the environment of Marco's room, which Toffee had been familiar with for a little time when he stayed in his hiding place in the swamp after his failed plan. He could to say without doubt that it was something characteristic of Marco Díaz.

It was a pleasant aroma.

It was not disgustingly sweet with a combination of dust and grime like that from Princess Butterfly's room, although Marco's room was clean so that explained why the characteristic scent of the human who inhabited it predominated. It was a combination like a fresh spray of water, the morning and the smell of a forest at dawn.

Toffee had to leave. He had not found anything and surely he wouldn't find anything else if he looked further.

While tracing back through the same route through the second floor corridor and down the stairs looking at those photos and being chased by those little beasts that barked nonstop, he knew there was nothing in that house that could benefit him and he should probably focus his energy on a new strategy.

Marco was just an ordinary human being, and he would continue to live his normal and peaceful life with his family.

He deserved this peace after being involved in all this conflict without wanting it.

He left the house leaving the puppies inside as Toffee knew that although there were many either Marco or his parents would probably notice if any of their precious pets were missing.

He was careful, there were no one that would be walking on the street at this time and he was ready to make a portal and leave when ...

"Ohh, but what do we have here?" A soft voice sounded behind him and Toffee cursed himself inwardly for his carelessness, lately he had been acting far too clumsy in his opinion.

When he turned around, there was none of this worlds officer of the law, policemen or any kind of adult, but a teenager with a green cap and blue jumper. He could either intimidate the girl, convince her not to say anything as he could be very convincing, or simply ignore her.

"Are you one of those monsters that Marco and Star fight? Or simply someone else who likes to enter the house of interesting people?" said the girl moving between her fingers a keychain with a motif of a monster in a swamp, what appeared to be the tooth of a shark and several keys crashing and clinking between them.

Apparently, he wasn't the only one who had decided to make a break-in that day.

"I'm Janna, nice suit by the way," she introduced herself as if it were an everyday thing for a lizardman to walk around the neighbourhood, and maybe it was ... well at least only in the Diaz's garden when Ludo decided to make his poorly planned imprudent attacks to attempt to get hold of Star's wand.

* + * + *

Without a castle and home, he could stand alone in the open for the first time in his life, and his mediocre methods seemed to make him die more quickly because of his carelessness than because of the nature that surrounded him. He was in one of the most dangerous areas of Mewni.

From a dry tree I pull a couple of branches and try to make a bonfire, I simply throw the branches in a pile and wait for him to make fire like in his fireplace that was in his castle, former castle.

Obviously nothing happened, and still he waited for the fire to appear.

\- Many branches, can not they make fire? Silly defective branches!

He was cold, hungry, his clothes were rags and now he had no henchman to attend to him.

From the point of view of a third party, Ludo had his opportunities to live comfortably in his castle that he inherited from his family with some money, to have his own criminal gang, perhaps not a really threatening force to manage Mewni, but to intimidate some and do some illicit business, but all those opportunities were wasted, for their childish behavior, for their pathetic plans, for having such a small mind that he could not see when someone was manipulating him under their noses.

Arto threw rocks at the mound of twigs breaking them and causing splinters to jump on his person calling him to hit.

-Auch! Damn you, Star Butterfly! - shouted to the heavens that seemed to answer with a roar much more powerful than yours.

The storm hit him with a cold wind and icy water accompanied by the roar of the clouds with his thunder and lightning.

He soaked Ludo's small body instantly and trembled again cursing his luck to which he believed the source of all of them. Even if he had to throw rocks at him with his own hands, he would pay Princess Butterfly and all those who betrayed him.

I try to make a small shelter with the rubble of his home but I only get rocks to fall on him. He would be responsible for making the others suffer ten times worse, if he managed to get out from under the rock before eating kilos of mud.

* + * + *

The castle of the kings of Mewni was the highest and most glorious of all, above those of the dukedom, of the marquises and other nobles, above the clouds that at that moment were gray and roared like wild beasts. So the kings and queens would not have to worry that their splendid view of their innumerable stained glass windows would be clouded by opaque clouds or raindrops.

Nor would they have to worry about the sight of the mud-filled town and the farmers struggling to put their animals in the stables or dealing with dozens of leaks that ended up soaking them and their few belongings inside their homes.

Life in the castle was good, life in the castle was comfortable, privileged, and ... boring and lonely.

His parents had not mentioned anything about returning to Earth or not, they were more concerned to know who Toffee was and to proceed with the obvious threat that was, after the sadness and shock comes the anger. Star wanted to have that lizard on feed and hit him much harder than any other monster he had ever faced, in fact it was very different from the monsters he had ever faced.

He was bad, he was clever and because of him Marco and he were not friends anymore.

Most of the monsters were bad, she already knew it, but Toffee was a new level of evil. The other monsters were muscles, braggarts, little brain, some were harder to knock down than others, but none had been so calculating and cold as to kidnap someone who appreciated or did not want to make the wand of his family, Ludo was pathetic , but he had his henchmen who coordinated them very badly, but with that lizard the henchmen who had defeated dozens of times became really a potential danger.

Maybe it was time to get involved in the search for this malefactor like his parents, or do his own research.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Since I probably won't finish editing this for a while and I don't want people to wait too long to read the story so far, here is the unedited version straight from Google Translate for your enjoyment with the exceptions of chapters 12 and 16.


	10. 10

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Need to edit

~ 10 ~

"Sometimes the least expected encounters are just what you need. They give you some clarity and help that you would not have found on your own, or just give you the luck you need. "

She went to school with more spirit than the previous days, in the class of Miss Skullnick the lesson followed with the usual rhythm of explanations of the subject and complaints from the teacher of things like her former boyfriends or that did not get distracted in class because this would come in the exam.

The day went by normally, or as normal for a teen school before the arrival of a girl with a magic wand; popular, athletes, nerds and geeks among other types of pubertos could put into debate the concept of normal among all.

An example of this was Hanna.

Hanna is reputed to be a rare girl, particularly at best, and somewhat harassing at worst. She was not a bad girl, although it was known that among her habits she was inclined to break into the home of her classmates and school friends (only those she considered interesting enough, such as Marco), as well as having ample knowledge of the strangest things and peculiar that in the world existed, from knowing the strangest and chilling parasites that could have the bad luck of catching the human being (worms that grew under the skin, bed bugs and fleas, disgusting things that he preferred to choose to expose in biology classes and science and that made their classmates and professors tremble and feel nauseous),

Marco knew her from elementary school if her memory did not fail her, and since she was little she was "singular". Although for the dark person that type of person could be problematic, it did not mean that he disliked the girl, although if they gave him an option he would avoid the problems that this would bring (like explaining to a teacher why he used his locker as a habitat for his pet tarantula as it happened a year ago, or that the supposed tattoos on his arm were made of gena and not real permanent ink which was half a year ago, in fact it was said that that's why he wore sweater at school because he still had a lot of those temporary tattoos in the arms).

In fact there were even times that he cared about her, like the fact that he went into his house or other people's houses, mostly people who knew her no longer cared about that hobby of his, but if a policeman caught her practicing his unusual hobby or someone raising a complaint could end up in jail, or God forbid, if you went into the house of someone really more crazy and really dangerous, this could be in danger and get hurt, those were his thoughts, and that's why every Once she had the chance, she tried to tell him to stop doing that when he saw her with his keys that he had somehow taken away from her.

Making it clear that her classmate was more than peculiar, and sometimes disturbing, today she had a peculiar interest in fixing her gaze on Marco, and this he noticed. Normally it meant problems, or that she had found something of interest, but since Star went to her kingdom she did not think she had anything of interest to her at that time.

Maybe I wanted to show him one of his strange things and I wanted to see his reaction, it was what he usually did for fun as a kind of joke. He hoped it was not another bottle with a two-headed frog in liquid like the last time, he had no idea where the hell he got those things (apart from something disturbing he was ashamed to remember the moment when he gave a too sharp cry, in his defense in then I suffered horrible changes of tone of voice, not that I had even left that stage, I was still growing, I was in adolescence after all, at least his voice was more serious now, but even then someone who heard it came to ask "Did you scare another Hanna girl?").

Ignoring in the class the look of her classmate the time passed and the lunch bell rang, for a moment I forget that she had been watching him and went with her friends to eat, this day her mother had dressed up making delicious burritos with homemade beans with the recipe of nana Díaz (legendary would say those of his family and that even according to the legend a food company came to ask him to sell the recipe), also filled a thermos with tamarind water and had even put him for dessert some milk sweets that his grandmother had given them at the end of his visit, even if Hanna arrived with a goat with five heads this would not spoil her appetite with this good meal.

\- Those are burritos or tacos? - Ferguson asked to see the lunch of his friend.

-Burritos-

-Aww hurts, your mom's tacos are very good- commented the redhead, it was known that the boy loved the tacos.

-I know-

\- And when do you think that it prepares those delights again? -

-I do not know- the Latino shrugged his shoulders, it is not as if there was a calendar of meals like in Ferguson's house to know that he would eat every day of the week or month, for example, the taco Tuesday and the leftover Wednesday Taco Tuesday - may I ask later-

-Great, when you make them save me a big plate of them-

-Hello guys- is the soft voice that comes to their backs that makes them jump a little in their seats, Alfonzo even exhales a little scream although he would never admit it out loud.

With steps as silent as a cat Hanna had come to your table, is another feature of it, could be so silent that you would not realize that had come to your side until she had made a sound or tapped your shoulder to call your attention, was another characteristic joke of her taking by surprise in that way her friends, classmates and acquaintances. Some joked that he had ninja skills, others that he could be a spy when he grew up.

Sometimes Marco thought that with that singular ability he would scare someone who would cause a heart attack, he hoped he was not that person.

Hanna greeted the boys once recovering from the surprise not to say the fright.

-Would you like to see something really amazing? - He asked with that sparkle in his eyes when something excited him, and what it meant would bother or scare his companions.

-Seeee ... I do not believe it- it was Ferguson who answered, he liked Hanna, but the last time I showed him something "surprising" at lunchtime he had managed to stir up his stomach and for a boy like Ferguson who boasted of having a strong stomach was an achievement.

-Oh come on, it's just something like ... this- in a quick movement the girl put her hand in the pocket of her sweater and took out something that she put immediately in front of the boys' face, actually practically in Marco's face.

By instinct, the guys leaned back a bit, fearing it was a weirdo or a disgusting thing, to be a girl Hanna was not intimidated by touching things like slugs, hairy insects or many legs, sometimes both, or even the A rabbit's skull once, she had found it once she was walking through the green and not-so-green areas that surrounded the city.

But it was not an insect, or a living thing, or even a seemingly disgusting thing that Hanna had in hand, it was really a ... stone?

When they saw that there was no risk or threat that the thing would jump on their faces they came closer to see better.

-What is that?-

-It looks like a stone, but it's something translucent ... a quartz? - Alfonzo moved his glasses on a tick he made when he was trying to focus his sight better.

-Look better up close- Hanna said moving a pair of her fingers that held the object so that the midday sun illuminated it better.

-There is something inside-

-One ... Lizard ?! - Marco leaned closer not believing what he saw.

-Very good Marco, excellent view-

"How the hell do you put a lizard on a stone?" Ferguson bowed too, seeing the silhouette of the animal inside the stone.

-Why is not a stone as such, is amber, is not it? - Alfonzo asked fascinated with what was in front of him.

-Bingo. This is literally a resin fossil of a tree-

-Resi what? -

\- It thinks that it is like the maple syrup hardened, but this one is hundreds of years - provided Marco not taking his eyes off the amber stone. He already knew these things, but he had never seen one with insects or anything else in person, his mother had been given a bracelet with these stones, his warm tones always attracted him.

-Uhhh And can you eat? - asked the redhead immediately relating the explanation with the sweet taste of the syrup that he put to his hot cakes.

"That would be like eating a stone Fer," Alfonzo warned, casting a disapproving glance at his friend.

-It would not be the first time-

-Although it would be very fun to see Fergus eat a stone, he can not allow you to swallow one of my treasures- Hanna wisely pushed the amber stone of the red-haired boy a little more, he could follow his impulses first ignoring the warnings friends especially when it came to food or girls, do not tell when it involved both.

-I did not know that things bigger than insects could be trapped in those things, the lizard seems to be very complete- the lens boy observed with clinical eye every detail that he could perceive in that piece of amber, it was not completely transparent but could be distinguished perfectly the characteristics of the animal.

-As I said, one of my treasures. It is not so common for them to get caught up in these things. It is easier for insects or leaves to be fossilized inside them- Hanna explains with some pride in her tone.

-Then it's not like a candy? - Asked to make sure the redhead.

-No- everyone answered around him, although more than one color reminded him of one of those candies, like Marco who also inevitably thought of a pair of eyes that had a certain similar hue, it did not help that there was a reptile inside the amber to clear that thought.

Would you have put that name on why your eyes looked like candy?

-Very beautiful, right Marco? - Hanna asked turning the stone a little so that it would see a different angle of the lizard inside.

-Yes, I do not think I'd use the word pretty to describe it, it's rather interesting, striking. How did you get it? ... Wait, I do not want to know - sometimes the stories of the objects that Hanna brought and showed could be much more disturbing than the same objects, however simple they were, like the time she brought It looked like the tusk of an animal and he said he had got it on the floor of a clandestine wrestling arena of a guy who had received a good left.

-The story of this find is not as amazing as my other treasures, I actually buy it at a garage sale near my house. Although the reason for the sale if it brought an interesting story, the man who lived in the house was someone already very old who worked as a geologist and entomologist, so he had a large collection of rocks and insects which were selling in that sale. garage, and the reason for this was the death of the owner. Apparently he was a lonely man and they only realized that he had died when the neighbors complained of a nauseating smell coming from the house, they called the police and then what they found ... -

-Enough! We do not need to know more details- Marco interrupted before he was more specific with the story he was telling, and Hanna could really be very graphic in his stories when he wanted to.

Perhaps that he had brought a five-headed goat to school would have been less disturbing than the story of his deceased neighbor.

A morbid story with disgusting details, something that unfortunately Hanna liked to tell a lot, would ruin anyone's appetite.

-Aww but it was getting to the best part- the brunette smiled knowing that it was causing the desired effect of discomfort in her listeners.

-Better ... tell us that more buyers in that garage sale-

-Well, there were other fantastic things besides her huge collection of stones, like her collection of insects or a stuffed raccoon-and just as she had seemed so excited to tell the story of her deceased neighbor and the meeting of her body Hanna began to count the Such strange and unique things that were in the sale.

* + * + *

After a severe mental self-reprimand, Toffee realized that contrary to initial expectations having been discovered by someone in his task of searching for information in the Diaz house had not been so disastrous.

The worst scenarios that formed in his mind was that although the probability was low that Princess Butterfly herself or her parents, or even one of her servants had discovered it by creating a confrontation in which she had not been fully prepared, in turn the princess would end up again next to the Diaz family, which although in some way would have her more exposed on Earth creating more opportunities, she believed that the best thing to do was to stop getting involved with the family that welcomed her in that dimension and drag them into her problems and / or whims; another option would be that the same person who found it, although not a real threat in itself, will inform the Diaz of their break-in,

He was another kind of villain.

But the girl, the young teenager named Hanna, did not seem to have an interest in betraying him or being scared by having a two-foot lizard in front of her eyes, and from what she knew of the people who lived on Earth the normal behavior it would be a reaction at least of amazement or aversive about this kind of thing, instead Hanna seemed very happy to have it in front of her eyes.

He could swear that his eyes even shone with emotion.

"In the stories Star told at school, I never mention a lizardman in a suit," the brunette reflected aloud.

As expected of the warrior-like princess, she would brag about her deeds with those who wanted to hear him boast of their victories even when they were against the pathetic minions that were Ludo's subordinates, or rather under his leadership.

Apparently the young human had paid special attention to the details of the description of the opponents of the princess, but doubted that his stories were very prolific with that mentality so childish and a poor vocabulary, proof of that was the newspaper he had read.

In this kind of moments it was just a matter of making quick decisions, he could stay and try to get rid of this mishap, but he was not the kind of person who made unnecessary sacrifices, besides thinking well that he knew or not the young Diaz who had gone to his house did not affect his plans so badly, right?

Just maybe his reputation and the image he would have of him.

But there were already hundreds of beings who thought horrible things about him, that a mere human joining his ranks did not affect him. Now what I had to do was open a portal, leave and now if I definitively dismiss Marco Diaz's house as some source of valuable information.

I would leave this unfortunate slip behind.

But the girl manages to see through her expressionless face to realize her intentions to leave so she releases a comment that she did not expect.

\- Wait, I just want to ask a few things. I will not say anything to anyone-

Hanna could be strange, and at the same time be lucky to find even stranger things, but that did not mean she did not put in her effort to know about them or understand them. Maybe it was his craving for knowledge and the way to get it the most problematic in it.

The internet could have a lot of information and was easy to access, but many of that information could be false, he preferred the old methods to satiate his curiosity, to investigate in person or of books that he could have in his hands.

His room had a whole wall dedicated to his research and a bookshop full of topics such as cryptozoology, mysticism, magic, astrology, among others.

Ha, but when would I have the opportunity to have a creature like this face to face? Well, since the arrival of Star Butterfly those odds had increased considerably with every day that this had been on Earth without a doubt.

-I do not have any reason to answer your doubts- was Toffee's sharp reply ending this meeting, or so he believed.

But with that refusal he had only given Hanna to understand that she must give him a reason to stay and satisfy his curiosity.

Hanna was not stupid, maybe a little self-absorbed in the things she liked giving little importance to the rest, but she could be such an intelligent and rational girl to solve problems especially when they had to do with the things that interested her. And at this time this lizardman was of interest to him, or rather the information that this could give him.

Most of the creatures that came to Earth this semester or were exchange students, (yes, Hanna in her mind did not think of Star as a "human" and the closest thing to "person" had been "creature", according to her creatures could also become rational and speak if their intelligence reached them, and could be much more pleasant than some humans) or monsters that were looking for the barite that always carried the barite the princess of Mewni, or that was what had come out of the Star's own mouth.

And as it was obvious that this lizardman was no princess or anything like it, it fell into the second category.

He did not have the barite, but in his reasoning he had something almost as valuable.

INFORMATION

-I'm just curious about all that dimensional travel, monsters, magic. And since you're like a businessman, why do not we make a deal?

Toffee raised an eyebrow at the remarkable persistence of this human, did not think he could have anything that interested him.

-Information by information, what do you think? -

That ... if I get your attention slightly.

* + * + *

When the end-of-class buzzer sounded Marco went to his locker to leave some of his books that he would not occupy and others he needed to do the homework, it was one of the great advantages he saw in high school compared to elementary school, he no longer had to load a ton of books in his backpack and with the locker he could keep several things apart from his books needed for school.

Do not plan anything special for today, play with the puppies, eat with your parents, maybe put one of your favorite karate movies to watch after doing homework.

A monotonous routine without princesses with magical little stars or monsters looking for a fight, only what a boy of his age was used to doing.

When he finishes loading his backpack with the things he needs, he needs the locker door to find Hanna leaning on the other side.

-Hi Mark-

-Hanna-

Marco feels a little proud because this time he was not surprised (scared, although he does not use that word) for one of his companion's surprise appearances. Although that smile he brought did not reassure him, it was difficult to know what the girl was thinking sometimes or what she was up to, perhaps because they were so different.

-Hey, I have something for you-

Those words put Marco on alert immediately, this could be one of Hanna's jokes or he really wants to give her something, but in jokes sometimes Hanna goes too far, instead of giving the typical can of joke mani filled with spring snakes of toy she would put a real snake, or if she had the intention of giving something it could be a stuffed animal.

-Not thanks Hanna, whatever it is that ... -

But Hanna does not accept protests and pulls her hand out of her jacket to put it in front of young Diaz's face, and the boy she would not punch him even though the movement looked it but fears what it contains in his hand so he He closes his eyes instinctively trying to avoid seeing the thing the girl wants to give him.

Sometimes he does not know if the behavior of his partner is a kind of heavy coquetry or a way of making him uncomfortable and nervous for fun of it, he assumes that it is more the second than the first.

-Hey opens his eyes, this thing does not bite-

And because he has to open his eyes sooner or later, not because I trusted a lot that what Hanna said, he finally sees what is in front of his face.

-Hey? Your amber stone?

Of all the things I would have expected from Hanna this was the most unexpected, but the girl is a bunch of surprises.

-Admit it, I call you a lot of attention-

-But it's yours, you seemed so excited talking about her at lunch-

-Yes, but I have more of these also with spiders and rare insects-

-Err- still not sure to accept this present or not. Sometimes Hanna can be heavy, strange as well as present these strange cases of disinterest, but she does not know the cause of this in particular.

-The lizards are good luck, and boy, you need it more than me-

-Wait to?-

-Ferguson told me about your last adventure, I already said that if Marco Díaz missed a day of classes without notifying the teachers was one of the signs of the apocalypse or a catastrophe or maybe you were at risk of life or death, it would have been interesting if it were the first instead of the second-

He does not know whether to feel irritated because Ferguson told Hanna about his near fatal incident, but knowing his friend and Hanna's persuasion that among his various gifts and strangeness he knew how and with what to convince someone to give him information, or surprised because very much in the way of Hanna she seemed to be a little worried about him.

-What good luck do I have? - He extends his hand and lets the stone fall into his hand. It would not hurt to have an amulet or two within reach these days. -Thank you-

-You're welcome. And if you're missing your math notebook, let's say I take it as payment-

Marco looks at his locker again, so he had not forgotten his notebook at home as he had originally assumed.

-I'll just take a few notes, I promise I'll return it as intact as possible-

-Hanna!

But the girl had already gone to do whatever she did on her afternoons not so typical of normal teenagers and with a very vague promise that she would see her math notebook in the not too distant future and possibly not as intact as she would like . Just as she has skills in getting into other people's houses, the adolescent also has the skills to open things like lockers or locks, it should not be surprising for her to invade her privacy.

He sighs and looks at the stone with the lizard inside, if it had caught his attention but he did not know what to do with this thing now. Transform it into a keychain or step on paper?

-To see how much good luck this can bring- keep your new acquisition in the pocket of your sweatshirt thinking that something good luck would suit you.


	11. 11

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Need to edit

~ 11 ~

-RAYO NARVAL! - Explosions and screams of the princess were heard in the training camp of the knights, the girl had been there since very early and had not stopped casting spells right and left to the different targets in front of her.

The gentlemen who trained there decided to leave her alone, the most veterans knew and appreciated Star Butterfly for having once been their personal guardians (babysitters, although they did not prefer to be called by that term) when it was still the size of a small pig goat , they knew that she was a very happy and enthusiastic princess who quickly learned the best ways to fight against her enemies thanks to them, but they also knew how hyperactive and disastrous it could be sometimes, now with a wand its potential let's say ... it could be unpredictable.

Although knights and novice soldiers were curious to see the current bearer of the royal magic wand, the veterans suggested that if they did not want to fly by an explosion, they would stay away from the princess' practice.

The only one that stayed to watch and take care not only of the princess but also that this did not end up destroying not only the targets but also the weapons and other equipment that the knights used to train, it was the oldest of all and with whom Sometimes he had remained as the princess's personal guard when this was a girl, the gentleman Cole.

-Other white- the princess demanded, waiting for the man with the gray beard and the scars of war on his face to put a heavy wooden pole with a very caricatured face painted by the princess of what she said was a yellow-eyed monster and cold.

If Star had been stronger, if he had had more experience, if his spells were more powerful, things would have been different. It was what was repeated over and over again while doing this training.

Of the few times he reflected on his failures, he was putting a lot of effort into remedying the ones that concerned him in his attacks, his strength and magic, but he was forgetting those that really mattered.

His character, his immaturity, that thirst for revenge that in the future would not bring him anything good.

Cole looked with admiration at the dedication of his former pupil, for warriors like them it was very important to keep fit and always look for ways to improve and become stronger, although he worried that these efforts were guided by a rage that although justified ( in his opinion) was going to reap him at the time of the battle.

He was not the only one who imagined who watched with some admiration the training of the young princess.

From one of the windows of the castle the queen watched her daughter, satisfied that at last she was devoting her time to practice in a more controlled and responsible way her spells without causing so much chaos around her, as in the first day that caused fires in all the kingdom and came to intimidate the monsters near his kingdom to put their nerves on edge.

She was in favor of keeping those creatures at bay, some intimidation reminding them of their place was fine, but if they exceeded these instead of remaining passive to a certain extent they would rise up against them because of the constant oppression as in previous wars.

It had been generations of trial and error to reach that conclusion, thus managing to keep the monsters at bay creating years of peace for Mewni (according to the criteria of the monarchs of the kingdom), being strict and even intimidating with them, reminding them who was in charge those lands, but without creating enough friction for them to exploit against them, not being gentle with their dealings with them because that was another way of making them understand that they had some kind of opportunity against them.

That was the "right" way to govern.

Star was a girl of slow learning, in the opinion of her mother, not to say immature and stubborn to want to do things her way and not as previous generations had taught each other, but apparently one of the objectives of matured In her character, studying and training away from home had been achieved, at least to some extent, and thanks to events that were really traumatic for her, but the price was worth it.

The queen herself had to face her own difficulties and trials to mature to be the monarch she was today, it was part of growing up.

* + * + *

Making deals with a Terran teenager was not the most dangerous or sensible thing that he had set out to do to achieve his goals, or is what he thought when finally convinced by the offer of the young woman named Hanna agreed to exchange information with her for his knowledge from the spell book of the Butterfly family.

He knew that somewhere there must be valuable information about the magical knowledge of that wand, but having the opportunity so easy to access them even from third parties was something he could not miss, although he still had reservations to expect that this knowledge was really accurate.

And although both parties were more than enthusiastic to meet and receive part of their deal, a busy street was no place for it. Toffee did not want witnesses of her visit to Earth, and Hanna said she had houses to visit and things to do that day, but the next day they could be at home without problems.

Accessing this was found on the agreed day in the afternoon sitting on a sofa in a small room, homely and with various ornaments of various types, between small rodent skulls on the mantelpiece photos of mother and daughter along years. In the vase of freshly cut daisies a bright blue fish (beta or warrior fish) swimming between the stems. The sofa, although comfortable, had very special patches on the backrest and armrest, a pair of skulls, a trisquelion, another one with the shape of eyes.

Apparently Hanna lived with her mother and was very active in choosing the decoration of the house for what she could see. Not in the best of the harmonies or the best of the styles should be mentioned.

Hanna arrived with a couple of large glasses of lemonade and sat between him on a single sofa that the girl had obviously taken as her own if you counted the number of more numerous and striking patches on this as well as the round cushion and with cobweb embroidery what was in this

-So let's start, do you want to start you or me first? -

-I know that I agreed to come here, and I do not retract my decision. But I would have thought you would feel a little reluctant to give me this information because of your relationship with Star Butterfly-

-Star and I what? It's just another schoolmate, interesting but not so much. Without a wand or its alien peculiarities, it is just an overactive girl who apparently takes triple sugar ration every day. It is good to cause fuss and destroy things but does not know how to use what is at hand with all its potential-

With that said Toffee did not have to worry about something like repentance on her part or loyalty to Princess Butterfly, although the last thing she said was true. Star had an extremely powerful artifact in her hands and with the abilities of the girl it was like watching an amateur with all the tools to create a beautiful painting and that in the end she only painted hearts and smiling faces on the canvas.

That's why in theory it was an easy target, but also something unpredictable.

-Although Marco is a different story, I like him and it's always fun to tease him a bit. Makes faces more funny-

This put him on alert, so the girl in question would not have loyalty for Butterfly but as she had said Marco Diaz was something else, and if she really seemed to have the means to know what was inside the spell book of the Butterfly surely would already know what he had done to his friend, or was Marco something more for her than that?

Great, possibly was in front of a girl in love very angry for having hurt the object of their affections. Although the young woman in question was hardly a teenager, she recognized that a woman's anger in that respect was unparalleled.

It could be a trap after all and had fallen to her in the hope of getting something as valuable as information.

-And he's a good friend, even with people who exasperate him too much. You just have to see Ferguson being one of his best friends. Jjajajaja Although Marco is weird in his own way. But we're not here to talk about Marco, or maybe I could also exchange information about him if you want to-

-I am only interested in what you may know about the spellbook, Marco Diaz is irrelevant-

-If you say it, when I mention it, you saw something interesting-

\- ... - Toffee remained silent, Hanna was a young woman who at first seemed very carefree, bordering on the careless, but apparently it was much more than what was seen, among these things too observant, nor did he realize that I would have made a gesture to indicate some change of mood when he started talking about Marco Diaz.

-Well let's start, let's start with questions and answers, you ask, I try to answer and vice versa-

-For the moment it seems the most appropriate-

-Fantastic, let's start-

* + * + *

Although he tried to do his homework inevitably, his mind persisted that day in returning to thinking about Mewni, what happened to him, and about the things he learned in the process.

Aside from Star's betrayal, he reflected on the behavior of his mother, Queen Moon, telling him what he knew and Toffee, who really could have let him die, crushed but did not do it, things that ran through his mind.

Toffee was a villain, his actions spoke for him, kidnapping, extortion, threats were some of the things he had seen that he was able to do only to have witnessed these facts, who knows what other misdeeds he would have done throughout his life. life, and it was a very long life if he started thinking about the detail that was alive when the first Mewans arrived at Mewni.

A long life, too many years, too many queens, too many plans, all for revenge ... justice.

I knew that many of the monsters were bad, Ludo and his henchmen for example, but even he believed that some people deserved second chances, even monsters, he tried to help Lobster Claws when the opportunity presented itself, but some people can not change They are happy as they are or are afraid to do so.

At the end Lobster Claws was happy being on Ludo's side, because it was what he knew, it was where he thought he belonged, nor did it help that Star had helped him return to Ludo's side, now that he thought he must have realized it from That was how selfish Star could be.

She could have argued that she had done it for everyone's sake, Tweezers was happy being a villain, one more redoubt of Ludo, maybe he was right, but now that he thought about it his motivations were more selfish, maybe he did not think that a monster could not change, it was not necessary to waste his time on improving it when he was simply a ... villain.

Or maybe he could not stand for someone else to receive more attention than her.

After all, she was a princess.

He loved receiving attention from his classmates, he could not process the looks of hatred and disdain of Brittney Wong and his squad of cheerleaders, and he thought it was naive, but it could also be that the reason was that there was never received that kind of look from other people, perhaps from monsters, but who in his right mind would dare to look at royalty that way and more when it could vaporize you with a magic ray; even in her own home she was really happy to receive the warm attention of her parents, until she became paranoid and came to think strange things about the good of Charlie Booth, would it have something to do with having been so soon from home in your visit?

Maybe that last was an exaggeration and the pain and rage instead of removing the brightness of their memories and seeing things as they really were were also distorting them.

But one thing he was sure of, Star was not as good a friend as he had believed.

His pencil was released from his hand and rolled around his desk but it did not fall to the floor, it had stopped by a new pebble that adorned his desk.

Hanna's gift for the time had been like paperweight for the time being at his desk and work area, although strange in the end he had not disliked the gift, he had spent all the way back home playing with this in his pocket memorizing with the touch the shape and texture of amber.

Maybe Toffee was like that lizard trapped inside the amber, a lone reptile frozen in a moment in time.

One not very good.

Spinning his life for only one reason was not healthy, that was not really life anymore.

What would he be able to do to fulfill his revenge? His plan had failed, the wand had not been destroyed and the Butterfly were still ruling Mewni.

Would Mewni be the true name of that world or was it one that the conquerors imposed by force as the Europeans did when they arrived in the Americas?

Settlers or conquerors, almost always when an advanced civilization arrived with a less developed one felt with the right to impose its rules and beliefs, there were exceptions, but with that also came confrontations with great violence.

He knew it from history classes, a knowledge that although tragic it was necessary to communicate to try that future generations did not make the same mistakes. Moon had taught Star about his story? Most likely not if his behavior when he told him what he knew was so almost desperate, as if keeping it closed would make the truth likewise remain with him.

But the truth always finds a way to be told.

Like the lizard in that amber, it was evidence that at some point, hundreds of years ago perhaps, there was a tree and that a lizard landed on it, perhaps in person it would never see that tree that would most likely already be dead and returned to earth or was another fossil in that garage sale, or that I would never see that lizard climbing its trunk, but there was the evidence that at one time, hundreds of years ago, there was a tree and that by its trunk a lizard climbed.

Maybe the people of Mewni did not know exactly his story, serious thing, but someone knew the truth, and it would find someone to be heard, that had happened to him after all.

Like human beings themselves, the Mewmanos were not exempt from evil. There were good and bad people. The same for monsters.

And someone good could become bad and vice versa.

* + * + *

After countless hours of dozens of destroyed targets and other objects exploding, Star Butterfly was not satisfied.

But she was exhausted and even with her determination and magic wand she needed to rest even a little.

"Your Highness, here a little water and food, it's not much but I hope it satisfies even a little." Cole handed the princess a pitcher of water and a modest morsel of cornbread, the young woman accepted it and proceeded to eat with the delicacy of an entire warrior and not that of a noble princess.

"Thank you, I needed it," Star managed to say between bites, spreading several crumbs on her cheeks and clothes.

The careless and meager aspect of the future ruler of Mewni could bring some distaste for people of the court if they saw her at that time, after a sovereign was an example and represented everything that was good in his kingdom, nobility and power, but for Cole was glad that the girl still had enough confidence to prove who she really was and still not hide in the noble mask full of royal policies, how many years would pass until that happened and was only a shadow of the girl who was watching right now?

I hoped that this moment was still very, very distant.

-Much better, how many whites are Cole now? -

-None more princess, I destroy them one after the other until I finish with all of them and then those of gentlemen's practice, besides a couple of buckets and part of the weapons warehouse of practice-

-Uhh yes, that last was when I slipped to pronounce a spell. Upsy-

-Okay, the trip is understandable, we had not cleaned the floors so well before your unexpected visit today-

Oh how good and understandable the gentleman Cole was, he almost remembered him as much as Marco was when he felt he had made a mistake or done something really wrong. Only Cole was not Marco, he was more of a teacher, a mentor, and as such he would soon point out his flaws.

-But if this had been a real battlefield he would not only have finished with all his enemies but also by the stumble could have hurt any of his troops-

-Yes I know. I'm sorry, I just want to improve as fast as possible, but I think this method is not so fast-

\- Even with the magic I do not believe that one can improve without practicing his majesty-

-Mff- Star snorted and swallowed last piece of his cornbread and thought again about ways to get stronger, daily workouts, exercises, everything was necessary but at that time I did not want to waste so much time in them.

-The spell book! - Suddenly the blond girl surprised her companion.

"Excuse your highness?" Cole did not think he heard well, the princess had said "book?

It was known that the young princess was not a fan of studying or spending her time with her head stuck in a book, she even remembered an occasion when she said that when she was a queen, she would burn every boring book in the whole kingdom to avoid having to see one again.

-Then we see you Cole, I have to go look for something- saying this Star got up and went running inside the castle thinking to go directly to her room where the spell book was. His spells were not yet so powerful, but surely in the book he would find new ones that the previous queens had invented, even Glossarick could help him!

Why had not I thought about this before?

\+ * + * +

-I refused to answer that kind of question, it's unpleasant and in very bad taste-

-Oh, come on, it's just basic biology. If you are a lizard man, is that part more lizard or man? -

The exchange of information had begun very well, now I knew that the book inhabited a kind of genius and served as a guide for the bearers of the barite and future queens, with this new information had a couple of new ideas for possible strategies; I also knew that the book contained the knowledge of all previous generations of monarchs throughout the history of the Butterfly, something extremely powerful as dangerous. The spells and the magic that explained that book not only included those of defense or attack, there were chapters of white as well as black magic, it did not surprise him, so many years and different monarchs would have explored different aspects of magic.

He had fulfilled part of his deal and answered all of Hanna's questions as clearly as possible, in fact the interrogation by the young lady were well-formulated questions and they sought as much information as possible as a good researcher, culture, species of monsters, adaptability, etc. until the questions became much more invasive. Especially with his biology.

The girl was too curious for her own good.

-Your curiosity ... scientific, is too indiscreet to say it in any way-

Some people could not stand these kinds of questions even though they had not even done it out of morbid or malicious intent, in fact if they were curious in that aspect that could be similar to a reptile or a humanoid, perhaps something in between.

Sometimes Hanna did not stop twice to think that her questions or actions could be offensive to some people.

This had turned out to be a productive afternoon, but very long and exhausting too.

\+ * + * +

Some fresh air is always good to clear the mind, he had managed to finish his school duties even and with so many thoughts hanging around his head which still did not leave him alone.

I was taking the laser puppies for a walk, one of the good things that Star had done by accident was to have created them.

They were unruly and playful like any puppy, but their peculiarity of throwing lightning bolts through their eyes had a new set of difficulties to raise and take care of them, they were not deadly lasers at least, but they were very irritating when they hit you on the body or skin, and although they no longer cast so many rays as on the first day they were created, they kept throwing them out of control every time they got too excited which happened very often for any puppy or when he took them out for a walk.

In spite of being creatures made by Star she really did not take responsibility for them more than to play with them from time to time, so it was her parents and he who was responsible for feeding them, bathing them and keeping them clean and taking them for a walk, in fact the puppies were very attached to him as he took responsibility for several of these tasks in addition to trying to educate and walk them often to exercise.

Being magical creatures, because if they were created by magic and were capable of throwing lasers, they sometimes wondered if they did not have other needs or if when they grew their powers would become stronger, if so, they hoped that their training attempts would be able to control better throw rays through the eyes and not burn the house or something valuable.

He was very fond of them, the loyalty of the animals was the most sincere.

-Very good guys, we arrived at the park. Do not get too far away, I'll look for a stick and we'll play for a while-

He released the straps of his small pack of naughty puppies, knowing that soon the playtime would begin the little dogs began to bark and jump around their master, since despite being created by the magic of the barite they did not recognize as authority to the bearer of it but to the boy who took care of them and spoiled them and their parents who spoiled them.

Marco looked around for a twig or stick and when he found it he called the attention of his pets and threw it as far as he could, everyone in a group ran after their wooden prey while he was waiting for them on a bench near there, watching them With the view and really did not care if someone tried to steal a puppy, this was a good park in which mostly families attended, in addition, with that they threw rays through the eyes scared or made most nervous as stay away and his children.

They knew they could take a little but not much to find and bring the branch to distract or fight to see who brought it took something that brought to entertain, the amber stone and some of the tools of his father.

In the end he thought it would be a waste just to have it as a footprint even if it was very effective for the job, and supposedly a lucky charm should accompany you to get lucky where you go, so he decided to turn it into a key ring.

Carefully in his house he had made a small hole in the stone big enough to pass a wire or thin rope, just what he was going to do now, he had got a piece of black leather and was going through the hole and tie it in the ends for the keychain hip to hold on there. He was not as skilled as his father in manual arts but he thought he was doing a decent job.

I throw a couple of times more the branch and the puppies went to look for it and also bring it until I finish making its key ring.

-What do you think guys? I'm fine right? - Asked his puppies when they returned again with the branch, some of the puppies looked at the pebble that hung from the chain of the keychain without understanding what it was, others barked trying to get the attention of Marco thinking that would launch faster the branch and continue with their game, there were even a couple who jumped and tried to catch the stone thinking it was a new toy or some kind of prize -Hey, hey, it's not food guys- I put the keychain further away from their pets and I keep it in your pocket, I caress the head of some and others their bellies -ok, I know they just want to play now, we'll play a little more and then we'll go home, it's almost time for dinner-


	12. 12

~ 12 ~

"So you want to train ... now?"

"Yes."

"Mmm ... and you want me to show you the most advanced spells?"

"Aha."

"So that your spells are stronger?"

"Can you stop repeating everything I told you a minute ago and say yes or no?"

"I was just confirming it." Since Star had inherited the wand, Glossaryck can count on one hand the times she has studied the book, and this sudden change is unusual to say the least.

The princess is not the type that studies the spells of the book. In fact, most of her spells are her own improvisations and creations based on her imagination. It was obvious from the beginning that she was a different type of princess, or so the guardian perceived it from the book of spells.

"Okay, the book has a variety of spells that fulfil your desire to learn, explosions and lightning are your style so perhaps..." Glossaryck magically moved the pages quickly until he reached a spell that fit the fighting style of the princess, "This could work."

"Uhhh, does that say a stampede of unicorns?" The princess read the title and was thrilled by what she read, with this kind of attack she could end her opponents with a single blow.

"Yes, now with this kind of spell you shouldn't say the spell if you don't follow the specific steps," said the little blue man pointing to the page that specifically showed a princess taking a few steps that seemed to Star very cheesy.

"Uhgg, do I have to do all those foolish steps?" Star asked, thinking that there had to be a way to get rid of dancing as a "princess" when doing the spell.

"Yes, each and every one of them."

"All right! Let's go outside to the training camp."

Glossaryck followed the princess with the book levitating along the corridors of the castle and while watching her back he could see great resemblance to her mother at her age, but also other princesses before becoming queens.

Each generation was different, in their faces, in their brands, in their character, Star was one of the most energetic as well as one of the most careless princesses with whom he had treated and trained, but also very talented. While some princesses followed the book by the letter in their training, few had the initiative to create their own spells and learn on the fly. It was certainly a very sloppy method if you think about it, but it also helped to explore the maximum potential of the wand's carrier.

Some princesses had created one or two spells on their own, in the worst case none, while others had written full chapters.

Star had the potential to be of that last kind, to be one of the great queens that would go down in Mewni's history, but the way she did it all depended on her.

* + * + *

"Hey, great key chain Marco."

Marco turned around to find Jackie Lynn Thomas passing by with her skateboard and helmet in hand. The girl's locker is in the same aisle so he always saw her every morning before school starts, but now she didn't take his breath away or run out of words to see her, he just release a simple.

"Heh?" and it takes a while to try to identify or relate what the blonde girl just said.

"The one in your wallet," the blonde points out the aforementioned object that the brunette had in his hand.

The boy turns to see his hands where he had his wallet with his new addition. He got a little thirsty before entering classes and stopped in front of one of the vending machines in the school corridors, where Jackie had found and greeted him. The key ring, the amber stone shined against the light of the vending machine making the figure of the lizard more noticeable. It would attract the attention of anyone passing by.

"Thank you."

"Well see you in class," with a gesture the girl said goodbye and went to her own locker.

Marco took a few moments after the machine made a metallic noise and released the bottle with his drink to realise what had just happened. He talked to Jackie Lynn Thomas, well, actually they had just exchanged a few words, a greeting and that's it, but he had a conversation with the girl that he liked most of his life, and he had not felt anything.

Not the typical leap of emotion in his system, nor the muteness or the nerves that usually came to the surface. He did not feel the urge to look cool in front of her where he almost always made himself look totally clumsy, stutter or remain silent in her presence or even sweat up seas soaking up his sweatshirt.

When the buzzer that indicated the beginning of classes sounded, he decided to leave those thoughts or rather this kind of revelation for later.

* + * + *

By some fortune Ludo manage to find food in the wild, although the food in question was not so wild unless bags of potato chips grew from shrubs or trees. The downside of this small and unusual stroke of luck was that another creature realised the existence of this delicious, easy to catch prey.

And for the first time in his life like many other things he had to do and learned to do in those last few days, he had to fight for his food by putting his own life at risk.

His adversary in this epic battle was a giant spider, and well, if he had been an average height would still be huge, so his fight was like the epic battle of David and Goliath, only that in this version the role of David lost pathetically when the Goliath spider in question overcame him with a couple of blows and wrapped it with his web like a fly, and the flies in Mewni were huge like that.

This was too much, even for Ludo, and when he saw the creature eating the chips one by one in front of him, as if mocking his weakness, something inside him exploded. Certainly Ludo did not consider himself a good person, but his mischief and badness bordered on that of a spoiled child and his plans were mostly childish and clumsy. He did not have that "something", that impulse, and thanks to what he was suffering from in the past few days, he was slowly gaining it even though he didn't realise it.

The next thing he knows is that he managed to free himself from the web and fight against a creature more than twice Ludo's size, not only for a few chips, but for a rage that was consuming him from within. And he won.

The feeling of seeing his adversary defeated is unique. It is the first time in his life that he has done something like this on his own, with his own hands, without followers and at a clear disadvantage.

He felt powerful.

He had a victory.

His first victory alone

* + * + * + *

Janna decides to sit next to Marco, right in the seat that Star used to use. Most of the students had unconsciously agreed not to use the seat of the blonde, perhaps thinking that she would come back one day or half of the class hoping she would make a magical appearance. Her classmates had taken a liking to her but in reality no one knew her that well. They only knew that she was the foreign girl from another world capable of using magic, and although that alone was enough to admire her, they did not know her well.

Janna can see the scratches and drawings that the Mewman made on the wooden surface. Janna's own seat in the back has its own marks made by her, but instead of skulls, graffiti-style drawings or urban art, there were rainbows, stars, a pair of rough-looking unicorns and even the name of the princess in bright letters. Literally. Janna supposes that it must be some kind of magic ink or spell that make the letters shine and change like a kaleidoscope.

When the shape moves or she tilts her head, as light strikes hits the surface, she can see every colour from a pale pink, to lilac or even a green phosphorescent.

This thing was almost hypnotising and could distract someone for a good amount time in the middle of classes without getting bored. Maybe it's what Star was doing.

But she was not here because of this, she turned around to find the brunette that seemed very distracted. Marco Diaz is already sitting in his seat as expected before starting the class, but is not preparing as in other days by taking out a notepad and pencil. Instead on his desk is a bottle of juice that he is holding without opening and his look seemed lost as he wasn't looking at anything specifically, perhaps thinking about something very deeply in his mind.

Actually these last couple of days the boy has been like this from time to time, maybe thinking about what he lived through, what the Princess of Mewni did or rather didn't do, maybe even his kidnapper.

Because she knows that Toffee kidnapped the brunette, but at least he had the delicacy not to be deceiving in his intentions. He wanted Marco as bait and nothing else, but Star had openly professed that Marco was her friend but when he needed her the most she decided to practically abandon him. .

Besides, someone who had the delicacy to return their victim to his own dimension after kidnapping him without seemingly irreversible damage meant that his first intentions were not to harm him. She also knows that Toffee was interested when she mentioned the Latino in their talk although he tried to appear imperturbable or bored.

She does not think that a reptilian type like Toffee bothers with remorse, so his interest was genuine and not just curiosity. Maybe she should try to bring the subject back into their second information exchange session as well as to this time also ask if only his limbs can regenerate like those of a lizard or other things too, and see if she can get him to answer that question about his biology.

"Hey security guy, are you going to drink that?" Janna stretches her hand and moves the bottle a bit with her finger, attracting the young Diaz's attention.

Marco turns to see the rebellious girl in the room with a look far from his usual expression of suspicion fearing some joke from the brunette the young man blinks a couple of times and extends the bottle.

"No, drink it if you want. I haven't opened it yet," he moved the bottle past him and placed it on the bench.

This in itself is suspicious for Janna. She arches her eyebrow and looks more carefully at the dark haired boy, Marco is not the type that makes heavy jokes, the closest thing to one is making joke calls and that is only if accompanied by his friends, so the drink can't be a trap and that also means it must be something really serious that has distracted the brunette so much.

She can't him question since the teacher Skullnick enters and starts to instruct something and Marco, even distracted, will never neglect his studies, so he quickly takes out his notebook and pen and writes out everything the teacher says.

And later during the lunch hour, Janna will find herself discovering the reason behind the strange behaviour of the brunette.

\+ * + * +

Study your options carefully and review the list of things you want to do to the object of your hatred, from a quick annihilation leaving only ashes to something more slow and tortuous.

But first things first, find the goal and then the annihilation will proceed.

Now, who has these negative feelings?

Well it's not Star, it's not Ludo, much less Toffee mentally preparing for another exchange of information with the young Janna, the girl had insisted on too private details about his biology to say it in a polite way and he hopes that a second encounter will not unleash another chapter of too invasive questions. It does not matter if the girl had the secrets of the universe at her fingertips, there were limits.

The person who was drowning in her rage was none other than the former director of one of the most respected institutions among the various dimensions. We are talking about Miss Heinous, who after the total insubordination her students created in Saint Olga's, disgrace came to her life and her beloved reformatory school.

At first everything was perfect, she ran her institute with an iron fist and the deranged and rebellious princesses who put the prestige of their families and their title of nobility to shame were guided onto the right path. Just for which St. Olga's had been founded and for centuries previous directors had been in charge of fulfilling its cause.

But everything changed thanks to a bad boil that did not know how to keep her opinions quiet and distracted her other colleagues to insubordination. It only took a day for the new princesses who had already advanced in their training to rise above their elders and authority figures in the school. St. Olga's had transformed into what was once a prestigious institute into what was practically a teen den.

Realistically, this kind of problem is not that she had dealt with before. She of course had to face some stubborn princesses in not following the correct etiquette and manners, nothing that couldn't be fixed with a couple of hours of reconditioning. But this was unprecedented, one, two or a small group of rioters could be easily controlled, but all of them at once went beyond their capabilities.

All because of that princess with the brown hair and pink dress. She received help from the Princess of Mewni, those cheeks deceived no one, but the one that had the greatest impact and could lift all the others in a single mass of rebellion with only her words was that brunette.

After that incident, it was practically impossible to return order to St. Olga as the princesses took over the place and several of the teachers resigned not to say that they fled for fear of being ridiculed by some of the princess' heavy jokes, for example, the singing teacher suffered from being smeared with molasses and covered with feathers so that later she would be mocked by a rude student by asking her if she could sing as charmingly as a bird.

It was a matter of time before she would lose her job if she was unable to bring order to her own reformatory. Now, her beloved institute was a land without law.

The last option left in her mind was to consummate in her revenge, and with this to bring an example to the rebels who had taken St. Olga's to remind them that there were consequences for their actions, and these sometimes cost them their lives. With their leading figure, their example in the rebellion fallen, the princesses would end up too frightened to continue with their bad behaviour and the peace would return to St. Olga's and the princesses would return to the good road, even if she had to make each of them take reconditioning sessions so that this event would not happen again.

\+ * + * +

In the end, it was not necessary for Janna to get the information from Marco since at lunchtime he started to talk with his friends about the things that recently had him in that state. It was just a matter of being close enough to hear what they were saying.

"Are you kidding?" Ferguson asked, looking incredulous at his friend.

"No ... I really don't feel the same now."

"Well, it surprises us since since I can remember you have been in love with Jackie down to her bones for forever."

"I know, I'm still surprised myself when I saw her this morning and I didn't feel anything." Marco felt like he had lost something, and after being in love with a person for so many years and then not feeling the same was so strange for him.

He even thought that he would be in love with her all his life. Even if they wouldn't meet again when they grew up, his first love would still be there in his heart. But maybe he had only seen too many romantic films with his mother and grandmother.

The first loves are important, but they are not forever.

"Well, I'll look on the positive side. Now, you can pay attention to all the other beauties that surround us," Ferguson said coquettishly pointing around to see the girls around him, and to be honest the school had several girls as beautiful or more so than Jackie Lynn Thomas.

"I don't think you should be making those types of comments. After all, you two are practically already engaged," Marco said not paying too much attention to the girls around him.

"True. You're right, I'm already taken, but that doesn't mean I can't enjoy the view."

"Marco, maybe you realised that what you felt for Jackie was not as real as you thought it was after everything you've lived through." Finally, someone said something with sense and that was Alfonzo who took what his friend said more seriously about his recent crisis. This was not as worrisome as being kidnapped and used as a hostage, but was still worrying for a teenager.

What Alfonzo said made sense. Marco knew Jackie, but he didn't really know her so well. His shyness and him falling in love with her had prevented him from relating so well to the blonde. He had never had a deep conversation with her and he doubted she knew him so well either beyond the fact that he was just the boy that loved her secretly for so many years and did not gather enough courage to speak to decently, or the security guy as most knew him.

Having your life at a real risk may have shifted his priorities, and only just now has he realised how much he had really changed.

Janna is drinking from the bottle of juice that Marco gave her in class while eating her own lunch and almost chocked on a piece of sandwich when she heard the revelation that Marco is no longer in love with his secret-not-so-secret love, anyone who put in a little attention would have noticed how the Latino behaved around Jackie and if they knew how to add two plus two together, they would realise how foolishly in love the boy was. If Jackie herself hasn't realised it, it was obvious that she was not interested at all in the dark haired boy and that she was more interested in things like her skateboard.

And Janna who thought that nothing stranger would happen than her teacher being turned into an ogre (literally) or rainbow fire appearing in the school after the Princess of Mewni had left, thought that a Marco realising that he no longer felt in love with Jackie exceeds her rank of strangeness.


	13. 13

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Need to edit

~ 13 ~

After a while of his revelation settling in his brain he returns home with his family and his puppies, he finds that his parents are in the backyard with his father's new project. After asking for help and paying some neighbors they managed to move what was once his cell to the back of the house, it brings not very pleasant memories but his father has managed to transform a symbol of sorrow into something that resembles hope, or those are the words of his father.

Now it is a beautiful table, or rather the base to place a fountain in the garden, after all the effort his father using all his tools could not mold the rock as was his original idea but he did not give up doing something nice, a more art project to decorate your home.

With the flowers and masetas that his mother placed around it creates a beautiful effect as if it were a small oasis.

She finds her parents next to the new garden fountain, burning and sharing pampering. Although like any son who sees his parents with that too romantic behavior between them, he looks away to see something else, he thinks he wants to have a similar relationship in the future, full of love and affection, just that Fantasia now fades a little because now she knows that the co-star is not Jackie now.

-Oh, hello Marco. Welcome home - your mother greets you when you finally see him.

-Hello mom hello dad. Is it ready? - asks referring to the source.

-Although not entirely, it still lacks "something", when it ends it will be a work of art - says his father, the man is passionate about his creations and sharing them with his family, this will not be the exception.

Although the new source was still incomplete according to her father, he thought he had done a good job, he could already imagine the people around her admiring her at parties or family gatherings.

* + * + *

It is not as if his behavior has implied to his counterpart of this exchange of information to take confidence in his person or if he really wanted to listen to anything other than the precious information of the spellbook, in other words Toffee was using her patience to tolerate the cascade of meaningless words from Hanna's mouth of some gossip that had occurred at school.

If he had managed to support Ludo this was tolerant, although it was still annoying.

-I've been looking in my occult books to see if it's a sign of recent times, it was something really shocking and I was surprised- commented with some exaggeration the brunette while browsing one of those blissful occult books, one specialized in Astrology and prophetic signs of catastrophes - I almost choked at lunchtime when I heard the news - and went on and on.

It was not the first time he had to sit down in front of someone and listen to their ravings hoping to get some information, but that did not mean he enjoyed the process.

While Hanna discarded the book to take another volume tried to see the positive point in this, now all the attention of the human was far from their biological interests in certain parts of the anatomy of his body, the bad thing is that the thoughts of the Young people were also scattered enough to give her information unless she was redirected back to the talk they should have at that time as the agreement they had had between them had been left. For that, he had to intervene in the monologue of the girl.

-I understand that these recent "worries" that happened in your day are overwhelming you, but I would appreciate you to refocus your attention on more essential matters-

"Huh?" The girl looked at him as if she had spoken to him in a kind of unintelligible language, or at least for her.

\- Could we continue with our information exchange agreement? - I try to say it with simpler words, sometimes I would like to meet more often with individuals with more vocabulary or intellect.

-Oh yes, I got too excited, I've never seen an apocalyptic event so I thought Marco would stop being in love was a sign of a catastrophic event- the illusion of seeing a supernatural disaster of great magnitude in person was what excited the brunette more than the love situation of the chestnut tree, he knew that some signs of catastrophes could seem insignificant to others but when they added up they implied that something big would happen, that is why he researched in books something related to this unusual event.

\- ... Excuse me? - could not prevent the mention of young Diaz his attention was focused on what was said by the brunette.

Had another event like that of Queen Moon happened, locking him in his dungeons? Or was he another creature or related by his interaction with Princess Butterfly who threatened him now?

-It may not be of vital importance to you, it's just that Marco Díaz has stopped being in love-

More than clarifying that statement confused him even more, who had fallen in love with the chestnut tree? Of the princess? That simply would be a huge annoyance to deal with romantic problems, in tactics could be used as possible weaknesses but now simply to hear that the human was interested in that way in the mewmana was simply repellent.

 

-I'll even bet with my arrest friends if Marco would keep sighing for Jackie Lynn Thomas until the end of his days or at least he would invite her to leave before we graduated from school, I think now I have to pay Ingrid those 20 dollars, she was the only one who bet that something like this would happen- Hanna already lamented for that lost money, at first one would think that Ingrid raised that kind of heartbreak scenario because it was the most negative of all in her group, but She was also an observer despite preferring to be apart from people and speak in her mother tongue so that almost no one would understand her when she spoke.

Maybe she saw things that even Hanna missed and I notice that Marco's deep-seated crush would not doubt much.

So Marco had been in love with a Jackylin something and now he was not ... that left him satisfied, he had already imagined some inconvenient scenarios without really having grounds or proofs of them, he doubted that the brunette actually felt affection or romantic interest in the princess of Mewni after everything that had happened.

-Now ... will you tell me today if at least it looks like a crocodile or a mammal? - Ask the brunette with some mischief.

I inhale and exhale softly, seriously sometimes I wanted to meet people with a little more intellect in these days of their life.

* + * + *

-I told you, you must not skip the steps, they are essential for this spell-

-Ug, it's okay, is that they are so foolish-

They had been practicing and still could not, it was so irritating, the only thing he had managed to get out were small unicorns instead of a stampede of belicorns, he wanted to achieve it but his impatience made him skip the steps causing him to fail continuously.

Glossaryck kept watching while the girl was intending to make the umpteenth attempt of that day, it is known that when there is motivation people try hard, the princesses are not different, with each one of them had to have studied the type of motivation that the I would manage to push better and get some good queens.

This was not the kind of motivation she had thought Star would initially use.

The girl is impatient, reckless and somewhat capricious, but with everyone and her flaws, most of the time she tried to do the right thing and there was not so much malice in her. The recent events changed several aspects in her now.

On earth the young woman could develop if the constant pressure of the royal family and create their own awareness of their actions, although still remained very dependent on the people around him in this new world for her even if she did not admit it openly, in this In the case of his guidance, support and moral guidance on more than one occasion, Marco Diaz was no longer at his side, and now the girl had suffered a total imbalance.

All for a simple decision, was not seer, but since he had lived hundreds of years and met several princesses could suggest some scenarios that implied that Star had agreed to destroy the wand, certainly many of them were not very encouraging and some were too catastrophic but in the end at least in the majority would still be by his side Marco Diaz.

Although I never admitted it aloud, the presence of the human was of great support in the development of Star. Or at least that is how it has been until now.

Now there was a whole new range of possibilities to handle.

* + * + *

Five minutes, is what she had said.

After receiving an unexpected phone call from her mother on the phone Hanna had asked for five minutes or so, apparently her mother had forgotten something and had to go back home to pick it up, and contrary to her daughter she would not take so well that a Strange was alone at home with his daughter, and more if this stranger was older, ah, and that was a lizard man with the ability to talk was another factor that would not take so well.

That's why I was now outside in the open air taking five minutes or so waiting for Hanna's mother to arrive and pick up the things she had forgotten and then return inside the house to continue her exchange of information.

This was far from professionalism, at least with this unforeseen break could deal with the slight headache that caused certain invasive questions of the girl. I was already beginning to doubt that this was just scientific curiosity and more morbid. Teenagers, why did I have to deal with teenagers?

Well, I knew that they were not all like that ... at least I knew of one that did not seem like that. The boy did not seem to get to ask such brazen questions in his life, or maybe he did?

* + * + *

I look at the image, a picture of a young maid wearing a fluffy and adorned pink dress with bows and bows, very typical of a princess, but her expression was far from that of a docile and educated young heiress but rather to someone who goes to the battle, this was the person whom he must find and eliminate.

It was not the most noble work of all but it was efficient in what it did, at least most of the time.

He took his closes and trait the space-time fabric that divided one dimension from another thinking of his goal, find this princess and bring her to his contractor.

When he went through the portal, he did not find exactly what he expected, not a luxurious castle or a large mansion, not an imposing construction or something that stood out for royalty, but he found himself standing on what appeared to be a kind of black road in the middle. of some houses not so different from one another as a kind of village.

It was not exactly the domain that was expected of someone from royalty, perhaps the princess in pink dress was walking around here?

Now the problem, even though a magical item as powerful as dimensional scissors, in its case its closes, was most of the time very accurate in taking its bearer to the destination he wanted at times there was some margin for error, especially if You did not think very well where you wanted to go or you did not know the location or destination where you wanted to go. So it had not appeared right next to the princess for these reasons.

It only remained to look for this princess, if he was as rebellious as his contractor had told him it was probable that he did not even have an escort with him, he could present a bit of a fight but he was already a veteran in battles, a little princess would not overcome him so easily.

He himself knew that not all the princesses turned out to be sweet damsels and harmless, he lived it in his own flesh, but he trusted in his abilities to deal with one that only knew escapism tricks with hair clips in locks and anarchist dialogues, or at least That was the information his contractor gave him.


	14. 14

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Need to edit

* 14 *  
"Rolling the stones are ... or how it is possible that the roads will meet again or not, some will call it destiny"

-Where is Star? -

River had not seen his daughter all day, there was not really the trail of disaster and destruction that left his daughter as a trace that had been somewhere, admitted that sometimes it was fun but others find wild unicorn droppings in between of the corridor could be inconvenient, one would think that it would be easy to see because it is so bright and colorful but when one is distracted it is not fixed exactly what is on the floor.

-Training-

-Star? Our Star? -

-So it is dear, for a couple of days he has begun to take more seriously his training and the study of magic-

-Oh, that's fantastic-

That had astonished the king, of course he trusted and believed that Star would become as good as his mother in handling the barite, but that from one moment to the next he would take his training so seriously, he surprised him, perhaps he had matured more than he could. he had noticed in his short visits on earth, how fast his girl was growing.

Moon, on the other hand, was very satisfied with this change of character.

-Yes it is, I am glad to see that you are taking your training as a princess more seriously-

And in truth she was taking her training more seriously but not precisely to be a better princess under her mother's standards, but for something more personal.

* + * + *

After doing the homework that they had left him, he decided to take a walk with the puppies, the little ones were excited by their daily walk, letting loose lasers through their eyes, jumping and barking, sometimes wondering what they would look like when they fully matured, they were magical dogs and Cute puppies but they would not always stay that small.

They looked like land dogs, normal dogs or whatever race they knew on their planet, but there was a possibility that Star would have thought more about the dogs she knew in her own dimension so when they grew they might look like farmers or hounds or some other race unknown

After all the puppies are like children, you never know at the end who will look more like the parents until they finish growing up, in their own case although they looked like in some things their dad many said that it was more like his mother. In fact an aunt once showed her pictures of her mother at her age and if it were not for the curly hair and the curves of the chest that showed through the dress that she had in the photo, she would say that they were almost identical, maybe that's why No one recognized him as a boy when he infiltrated St. Olga with the princess dress.

And remembering that as other of the past adventures with the mewmana had some mental debate in telling her parents, they already knew that she had faced monsters, and that somehow she ended up knowing the fairy queen and she was clearly in love with his friends, but there were other things too, imprudent journeys that at first seemed amusing to other dimensions, adventures that in his mind were funny at the time but already with a cool head were too reckless.

He did not want to worry his parents more than he had already done, he did not lie to them, he just hid certain pieces of information, even so he knew that he was not well, after all it was his parents, and if in any of those crazy adventures or ideas That Star tube something would have gone something really wrong his parents would have suffered sooner than later the consequences of his imprudent actions.

She did not regret them for the most part, you accompany her friend who believed her to new places was an unmissable opportunity, and to help her was something that she did with all her heart, even so they were too imprudent. Especially that last time before her abduction, Star had been so stubborn to show her a great way to get a free sandwich, stick her hand in a mysterious hole that turned out to be part of a monster, not for the really cool and just to get a sandwish, for this better he would have started cooking at home as he had said at first, but no, they had to travel to another dimension and be attacked by a single monsters to get a sandwish.

And when I try to help she scolded him as if almost losing his life was not much and his sandwich was the most important thing. She knew that Star in many ways was distracted and naive, but sometimes her attitude bordered on clear stupidity, as if common sense was as difficult for her as algebra or statistics.

He had tolerated many of his attitudes but thought that this time when he went into his room he would not tolerate him so well from now on, he was not a saint, he just wanted to be a good person and friend but even he had his limits, after everything was a simple human, and it was perhaps there, with kidnapping or not, that the cracks in their friendship were felt.

Maybe the kidnapping had only accelerated things. A test of fate that none had happened ... I was thinking things over again.

The road from his house to the park was not too far, the whole of his neighbors already knew the puppies and despite that at first it was the weirdest thing for them to see dogs throwing lasers by the eyes they got used to, besides they were really tender, and having Star in the neighborhood meant that they would face stranger things, in fact the neighbors next to their house a couple of times complained because the fences that surrounded the garden always ended broken, burned or affected by some The girl's spell or monster attack, no matter how quickly she could repair these flaws with magic, some of them considered it too rude to damage another's property.

At least these neighbors would be calmer from now on, Star Butterfly no longer lived with them.

He kept walking up the sidewalk until he heard a peculiar sound, it was like a kind of engine? Maybe one of your neighbors was working with a lawn mower or something?

No, it was not that, it sounded like an engine but it was not a mower, it was not a leaf blower, it was not any of those things but it was not a completely unknown sound, I had heard it before but I did not know where to place it.

The dogs began to get nervous about the sound, they jumped and barked louder.

-Hey, hey guys wait Calm down! Calm! - this sound for ears as sensitive as dogs was must be a torture for their puppies, but before getting away from the sound I wanted them to return with more calmness and to avoid running out with total anxiety, I wanted to make them understand that while he was with them, nothing would happen to them.

Oh at least it's not supposed to happen just by listening to the sound of ... an electric lock?

-Ahhh! -

In the end he knew where the sound came from not because he had already guessed, but because from one moment to the next he had oscillating the lock in front of his face. I manage to move quickly before getting seriously hurt, but while he was doing backwards and his dogs forward the electric saw cut the straps.

He fell to the floor of saton wondering what the hell had happened, a saw I try to cut but why? How? Who? Had it been an accident or on purpose?

-Good reflexes princess- I hear a thick and slightly raspy voice of the person holding the weapon that had been directed against him, was a reptilian man and no monster that had known before.

"Princess?" He asked puzzled. Star was no longer here and there was no one remotely like her near him to be attacked by this monster, unless in some very strange way he had mistaken Star for her - I think you are mistaking her for a person -

-It does not matter what costume you are wearing, you do not fool anyone with that new haircut or those feminine clothes-

-Ah?

Maybe ... was he saying that he was a PRINCESS? Here clearly there was a confusion.

The saw that had ended up embedded in the ground creating cracks in the pavement rose again in an arch until it was above the reptile head of that subject, apparently that day could not just walk their dogs, and talking about they poor people were terrified by the sound and the attack, I could not see all of them so several of them had fled to hide.

Now he was worried, not because of the risk of death represented by the guy with the electric saw but by the puppies, he had raised and cared for them since Star had invoked them and the little ones did not know how to walk down the street on their own, always in the company of someone, if they walked too far, if they were lost or worse if a car ran over them ...

-Ugg !!! -

The princess was not as helpless as she seemed.

Before it occurred to him to lower the saw against him, Marco quickly got up and proceeded to give one of his strongest kicks to the subject's chest causing him to lose his balance a little, his skin was hard so he did not I caused him as much damage as I would have liked but it was enough to get the air out and lower his weapon.

In center karate class the sensei gave them some lessons in dealing with armed aggressors while one was unarmed, obviously he had also taught them that the best option was to get away quickly from the aggressor and call the police, but in case they could not To do so, they had to be attentive to the weapon and see if it was possible to disarm the aggressor to be on equal terms. Maybe Sensei never thought that one of his students would deal with an aggressor with a chainsaw.

He had fought with Ludo's henchmen and one or two other monsters, but none with an electric saw or such a dangerous object in their hands. But more than fear he was furious with this guy for scaring his dogs and putting them in danger, they were not to blame for anything and if it were not that he and the puppies had moved quickly surely one of them would have been seriously injured.

-You are fast princess-

-Look, I do not know who you are or why you are attacking me, I'm sure I'm not a PRINCESS-

Both say with a certain contempt the word PRINCESS when speaking each one for their different reasons.

-I told you, you would not deceive me so easily- the reptilian man moved his lock again in the minor's direction but this achievement dodged him again, this only enraged while thrilling the reptilian, there was nothing better than a good prey that presented a good fight

Marco did not panic but was not confident either. That lizard man was tall and strong, he looked intimidating but he did not look that smart, maybe his size and weight kept him from being agile and quick, while moving faster than his attacks would be fine.

Woof woof woof

The barking of a few of the puppies was heard next to them, when they perished not all had fled.

Of course all the puppies had reacted with fear, the sound of that electric saw was unbearable on its own and when they felt the straps of their free straps instinctively ran, some farther than others thinking that if they moved faster the paws faster they would get away from that sound, but some noticed something very important, Marco was not following them, and his human always accompanied them when it came to walking outside the house.

Some brave enough, three of them to be exact, they returned in their footsteps to see their human being threatened by the subject that held that thing that made that hellish noise, they did not like that much. Actually that made them angry, his Marco did not deserve to be threatened with that noisy thing.

Simple puppies barking at you are not intimidating at all, but if they start to release lasers through the eyes it is already a problem.

-Afff I see that your hounds have interesting tricks, I want them with a single movement- some of the lasers hit with their skin, thanks to their scales the blow of these rays was not as painful as for human skin, they were more Like mosquito bites, it was still annoying.

-Don't you dare hurt them! -

I would not let that lizard hurt his cubs.

I jump again ready to give him a good pair of blows before he lowered the saw against the cubs, because of the way he moved his arm and ready to attack the canines he thought he had a chance, it was not like that. In a quick movement turning his body the lizard man turned his back and something hit him on his side sending him flying, it had not been a kick or his punch, but something had hit him so hard that he was now on the ground very sore

A tail, but of course it had to have been a tail, I had not seen it because of the kind of cloak that guy was wearing.

The puppies ran to his side worried barking or trying to lick him as a sign of comfort.

Apparently this guy would not be as easy to beat as the other monsters he had faced.

-I'm fine kids, now hide, I ordered them, I did not want them to get hurt because of him.

The puppies moaned discontented, did not want to move away from his side.

-If you are so fond of these princess for your bloodhounds, I will be generous and make you suffer your destiny-

-Do not even think about it!-

He got up ready to continue presenting battle to that subject but in doing so he noticed a sharp pain in his left foot, he hoped that he had not suffered a sprain or twist and was only in pain, even though at this moment he would not fight as well as I would like. Now I was at a greater disadvantage.

The reptilian man seemed to notice this when he saw his wince when he stood up and decided that there was no better time than this to finish the job.

But before giving his coup de grace something hit him and strong, enough to drop his saw and fall to the ground face down, had not been the brown princess because at all times had his eyes on this, and the hounds were so small that It was ridiculous to think that beings of this size managed to knock him down. Someone else had been his attacker.

He was ready to take his electric lock and break into pieces who had dared to get in his way, the attacker was next to this, had not made any noise when approaching the very scoundrel, looked up and saw the color of the Scales, the face and the look he saw so many times on the battlefield and stopped, could not be.

"Toffee?" His tone was one of total disbelief.

-Rasticore-bowed his head recognizing the green-scale, apparently not the only one to identify the other monster in front of his eyes.

"You're alive!" He exclaimed, sitting up forgetting for the moment what he was doing a few seconds ago and his thirst for blood evaporated from his being.

-So is-

"I have not seen you since the armies of Lord Araquius tried to overthrow the kings of Mewni. Would it be 20 or 25 years? Everyone thought you were dead-

-The rumors of my death were exaggerated Could I know what to do in this place? -

-Mercenary, I'm going after a job. There are not many jobs for warrior monsters these days-

"There are not many jobs for monsters in general," said the suit.

-What are you doing in this dimension? I know that many chose to flee to other dimensions after the war but you do not seem the one who would do the same-

-I did not run, I'm just here to gather some information-

-Do you plan to organize another uprising? - asked the other reptilian emotion, had not been in a decent battle for some time, also hurt the kings of mewni was always a good cause in his opinion.

Toffee thought before answering, in a while ago he met this guy, they were not exactly close but he knew he was a good warrior, the extra strength was sometimes grateful in some of his plans, as when he appropriated Ludo's minions for his plan, but now it was not necessary, he had not written a new course to take with all the new information that Hanna was even giving him.

"Can anyone explain to me what the hell is going on here?" Marco's voice comes calling the attention of both reptilian men.

Rasticore seems to remember that he is in the middle of a job and returns to his serious face.

You must still eliminate a princess.

-I'm sorry colleague, let's finish eliminating this princess and we can continue talking-

"Princess?" Toffee raised an eyebrow at the mention of this title, looked at Marco and then at Rasticore. "Which princess?"

-Well, the one in front of us now- I point to the dark one who only looked at them defensively.

What did Toffee do there? Was this another of his plans? Did you work with this new guy? But he doubted it, if that were not the case he would not have stopped the green scale in his attack, it did not make sense, also because of his recent dialogue the new subject seemed to have long thought that Toffee had died so he did not think they had put agree to attack him again.

-I'm afraid to tell you that this young man is not a princess- Toffee corrected him.

-Don't let her disguise deceive you, my contractor gave me a picture of her and they have the same face, besides my material locator took me directly to her- to back up her answer I take out a piece of folded paper and its material locator, I remembered that in the past Toffee hated mistakes, especially in the battlefield, being a counselor and strategist had been very valuable in battle making unnecessary losses were minimal or innocent were harmed.

Toffee took the piece of paper and unfolded it with a full body photo of ... Marco Diaz in pink dress? He considered himself difficult to surprise, but this he had done, even his facial expression reflected it with his eyes open and his eyebrows raised.

Was that image real or false?

-I told you I'm no princess-

\- He continues saying that, it is a trick to let it escape-

Toffee looked up from the photo to fix his gaze on this pair, but outside because he saw lasers in the distance while he was outside Hanna's house he had not come across this scene, a mercenary from another dimension who was after a supposed Princess, and blissful princess was according to this same mercenary Marco Diaz.

When he came to see what was causing that chaos he saw Rasticore was about to attack the dark human with his saw and moved by reflex hitting and disarming the other reptile, he was not exactly the guy who did good deeds and disinterestedly , but this time I had not really thought about stopping that attack.

Now he had to clarify this matter, first correct his former battles partner with his supposed objective.

-Rasticore, that human is not female-

-He? -

-It does not even belong to royalty-

-But ... my contractor-

\- Surely he gave you bad information

-So ... I'm just going after a transvestite? -

-Hey! I'm still here! "The pair of lizards kept talking in front of him, and on the one hand it was very convenient since the guy from the sierra had stopped attacking and from the other he was mildly offended because they talked as if he was not there, and when they referred to him as a transvestite was the last straw, it was not that he had something against them but he was not one.

-Ejemp Rasticore this contractor, do I already pay for your services?

-No, normally I get paid at the end of the assignment, the disadvantages of being a monster and criminal-

-I see, because he did not give you the correct information, I would not trust your current contractor so much, I would suggest you decline in this work-

-Maybe you're right-

Continue or not continue with this work? Certainly it was suspect that they did not give him the correct information if what Toffee said was the truth, and being honest it would not be the first time he was played crooked, more than once he had tried to pay less for his work or kill him to stay with the reward for his head.

Although the woman who had hired him did not seem very threatening, it was evident that he had an evident thirst for blood that bordered on insanity, he could have more than one trick up his sleeve, maybe he planned from the beginning when he finished with his mission to finish him off. that there were no loose ends.

-If ... this is suspicious, I have had strange objectives but normally they give me all the necessary information before going to do the work, suddenly discovering that my goal is a transvestite only means that this is a trap- Rasticore concluded.

It had been good that Toffee had appeared to clarify that.

Toffee was satisfied that Rasticore had been easy to convince with his words.

And Marco, he was so confused, but apparently instead of being attacked now by a monster with a saw thanks to Toffee's intervention this had apparently been avoided. Now he wanted to go home, sit down and check his ankle, but first the puppies.

-You're lucky to find yourself in very special situations Marco Diaz- Toffee commented addressing the human who supposedly would not see in his life again.

-It's not as if I wanted to get into them on purpose-the chestnut tree defended, that had sounded a lot like a scolding -I ... thank you, if you had not intervened I would have had serious problems-

There was again the amazing ability of the human to surprise them, although this time he had enough control in his facial muscles to not show it. Instead of looking at him with suspicion with his recent appearance, react aggressively towards his person due to their not so good history among them, which would have been logical, the human was grateful to him for having interceded for him.

-Do you know the Earthman? - Rasticore asked grabbing his saw, apparently forgetting for the moment that someone had given him a good punch to throw him to the ground and drop his ax due to the excitement of meeting with former member of the army to which he belonged so many years ago. .

-Let's say that I have come to deal with this individual in particular-

And in that deal it included kidnapping, extortion and death threats on his own, but that was something he did not have to know.

Twists that life gives, now it was preventing a mercenary from cutting it into pieces whether misunderstanding or not.

There were no death threats but the atmosphere was still tense, Marco looked around, three of the 8 were at his side, saw a couple in the bushes but the others did not see them. I was afraid they really ran too far.

"Come on, boys, come, and the danger is over," he ducked and it was enough for the puppies that were nearby to run to his side in search of comfort, he had five, three were missing.

He took a step and could not help but wince at the pain, so it would be difficult to find those who were lost.

"You hurt yourself" was not a question, it was an affirmation from Toffee who approached the tan without even noticing it.

-Only a little foot when falling, I do not think it's anything serious- I could keep walking but with clear discomfort, it did not hurt as much as the time he broke his arm.

-You should go home-

-I know, but I have to look for the other puppies- maybe if he called his parents by cell phone with the car they could go to look for them more quickly.

-I'll help you-

-Ah?

Marco was not the only one surprised by the sudden offer of help, Rasticore was struggling to return to the dimension where he was to that suspicious woman and take revenge for this apparent trap so he was not aware of this small exchange of words, it was Toffee who was surprised by his words, did not want to say that, and I avoid cutting it with a saw and it was best to return to his current lair, preferably with Rasticore to talk more about his contractor and know who was after Marco now and if it was related to the Butterfly family, but that simple sentence came out of his mouth causing him to get more involved with the Earthman.

I was being so careless.

-We'll look for your little beasts and return to your house to have your injury checked-

\- I ehhh ... yes, that would be very helpful-

It was almost surreal to have the guy who kidnapped you not long ago helping you, for a long time he was not angry with Toffee, it was ... weird, surprising, but it did not turn out to be such an uncomfortable situation.

-Marco, son, my name is Mrs. Shew and he said he saw that a guy with a lock was ... - from the street in a car was Mr. Diaz calling her son, one of the neighborhood neighbors had called her home because of an issue she had seen through her window that involved her son.

Worried he took the car and went to look for his son, he did not expect to find him in front of two reptilian men?

-Heeey dad-

Well, now the situation could be uncomfortable.


	15. 15

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Need to edit

Not all parents have the pleasure of being in front of the their children's kidnapper and at this time Mr. and Mrs. Diaz had certain contradictory feelings about the situation.

As for the kidnapper, he never contemplated in his plans ending up in a situation where he was in front of the parents of the boy who he decided to use as bait for the Princess Butterfly. In reality after the events had passed after his failed plan, he planned to disappear from Marco Díaz's life and, in turn, everything that involved him, including his dimension, but it seemed that these kind of situations were becoming more frequent, those that went too far from his calculations.

It was as if a superior force was conspiring against him.

How is it that Toffee ended up sitting on the sofa in the Diaz family's living room at that time? Well, the answer, in reality, doesn't involve any magic or spells.

Summarising the facts, Marco Diaz's father arrived in his vehicle only to meet with the peculiar scene of his son in front of two lizard men and the puppies around him with broken leashes. Rafael Diaz didn't like to think badly about people or the worst in any situation, he was a very positive man in fact, but with the things that his family had lived through and especially his son recently before this painting in front of him he could not avoid getting nervous. Perhaps the most prudent action of Toffee would have been to turn around, take Rasticore and leave the young human with his father, but obviously he had not made that decision since he was sitting on a sofa much more comfortable than Hanna's house.

It could be said that the reason why he did not turn around immediately was because he had already offered to help young Diaz retrieve his canine puppies and he was a man of his word, that the act of leaving without saying anything was a very similar to what a coward would do who had committed a crime, and he had not committed any (this time) and did not have to leave, but it could also be said that he did not think what action to take in this situation despite his He was so sharp and an excellent strategist, there was even a time when he could not come up with ideas that would lead to a plan.

After falling into a silence that with each passing second became more uncomfortable, Marco decided to break it by telling his father that if he helped him pick up the puppies, the father would park the car and come down to stand beside his son and at the same time be closer to that lizard man of more or less two meters.

Marco wisely explained that the dogs had fled because of the very loud noise and some were not seen nearby, would not tell him that he was recently attacked by the other lizard man who stayed a little further away from the group muttering something to add the name from your recent contractor to your revenge list or something like that. It was not the time to say that beings of other dimensions were against their person ... again. At least he wanted to know first how he had ended up in this situation before worrying his parents much more.

Somehow between all managed to grab the puppies and upload them to the car, yes, Toffee looked for the small puppies too and when he found a couple hiding in the bush of a garden very reluctant to leave voluntarily he bent down to pick them up and take them with the Diaz, Marco had climbed into the car to care for the puppies that had already climbed, and he could not move so quickly or easily with his foot now.

And the surprises did not end there when Rafael, the good man decided to invite the "acquaintances" of his son home and give them something to drink in thanks, literally I push one in the passenger seat and another in the back seat with Marco and the puppies, luck decided that Toffee accompanied the minor of the Diaz along with all those hairballs.

Marco was equally surprised by the rapid action of his father as well as Toffee and Rasticore, but his father was impulsive on some occasions, maybe he had to see his spontaneity with his artistic gifts.

Arriving home with his wife was the first time that the distracted and impulsive Mr. Díaz had asked their names. Marco was on an individual sofa where his mother had finished checking and giving him first aid, his injury was not serious, his foot would be swollen for a day or two but if he did not make efforts he would heal perfectly.

-Rasticore Chaosus Disastorvayne, sir- the first one to answer was the one with the eye of a gem.

Marco held his breath, he was going to say a false name so as not to say the real name of Toffee, but no.

\- Mine is Toffee-

And I'm supposed to be a smart guy! Why had he given his real name to his parents? What did I want to achieve with this? What did they run from the house or give them a cardiac arrest to their parents? Perhaps he was going to extremes with those mental settings Marco Diaz, his parents were not very aggressive and enjoyed great health to suffer from heart disease, even so the dark could not believe that he had given his name to them in the first place his parents, who were left with frozen expressions.

They knew that name well.

This is how we arrived at this uncertain and almost unreal point. Marco did not know what his parents were thinking in those moments

-I ... I'm going to go get something to drink- Angie said breaking the uncomfortable silence that had formed in the room.

-Dear I accompany you? -

-No, you stay ... now I bring the drinks-

Well, at the moment it was a reaction he did not expect but not the most chaotic one could have imagined, he did not think his parents would react aggressively to jump into the attack on the lizard man, but maybe panic or something for him style if you could imagine.

How are they supposed to react? Not even the Diazs themselves knew, Angie needed to take a few moments away and process everything, to have him face to face was not as scary or macabre as he would have expected in his imagination, in fact this Toffee seemed even an elegant man / lizard, almost like a Businessman. Now he was there, in his living room, very close to his son and husband.

Curiously, he had not panicked or disowned the idea, after all his husband explained that he had found the pair of lizardmen helping his son to retrieve the puppies. That was already a point in his opinion in favor of the guy who kidnapped his son before, although he did not erase the past.

He opened the refrigerator and took out a jug of lemonade, did the reptiles hurt the lemon? Did reptilian men from another dimension have ever tried lemonade?

Star ate everything in the house, but she seemed more human than anything else.

Returning to the living room her husband, her good and beloved husband, kind even with strangers, I do not miss trying to make a conversation with Rasticore and Toffee.

-Your suit is very elegant Tofy ... -

-It is Toffee sir- corrected the reptilian without sounding irritated by the deformation of his name.

-Excuse me, sometimes I confuse the letters. So, is it tailored? -

-Exactly, I must say that you have a good eye Mr. Diaz-

-Well, I'm an artist, I pay attention to the details. And Mr. Rasticuri, you have an impressive arm there-

-It's Rasticore. And in fact it is an excellent prosthesis, it can destroy the skulls of my enemies a couple of seconds faster than my real arm-

-Ohhhhh uh jjejejeje I guess that's great? It must be very strong then-

-So, I'm very proud of my physical abilities sir-

-Exemp brought some drinks in case they like- Angie said placing the tray with the jug and glasses on the table in the room interrupting the conversation.

-Thank you dear-

-You are welcome-

The atmosphere was strange and tense, someone had to talk and at the same time it seemed that they wanted to ignore a couple of seconds more what they had in front, Marco inhaled a little and was about to open his mouth until someone else spoke.

"Gentlemen, Diaz, maybe you sound hypocritical or you lie my words, but I wanted to tell you that I never wanted to put your son in real danger. I apologize for the afflictions I caused them to get through by involving your son in my plans-

Toffee ... did he just ask for forgiveness?

Now the Díaz lords faced another situation that not all parents face, receiving the apology of the kidnapper of their son from this mouth.

The parents looked at each other, surprised, confused, doubtful. Marco is with his mouth open.

The monster that seemed proud and intimidating leaves that aside to apologize to parents who suffered several afflictions with the disappearance of their son, the least that can offer this at this time and being face to face with them.

This day has had several surprises for several of them in the room, at least this is a pleasant one.

-We ... thank you, our son told us what you did, what happened, what happened to you. I do not justify that kind of actions, but we appreciate that you have returned our son to us- Angie takes the floor, there Toffee can identify where the young Diaz inherited the eloquence.

And the eyes are like those of his mother, bright, clean, the color I take from his father but that look undoubtedly inherited from his mother.

He looks away, perhaps he is digressing too much in his mind.

"This drink is acidic and refreshing, ma'am, what did he say it was called?" Rasticore calls the attention ignorant of the atmosphere in the room, the glass he had just drunk had a liquid with a pleasant taste.

-Limonada, if you like you can serve yourself a little more-

-Thank Mrs-

Rasticore is served a little more lemonade, around it the atmosphere seems to relax a little more, Marco finally closes his mouth and thanks that this situation has not ended worse than how it started. Rafael takes the hand of his wife as a sign of support, they have accepted the apology but there is still a stretch to say that they have forgiven the anguish that happened when they thought they had lost their son, but if he had enough decency and courage to face them and apologize they will accept it.

No, he is not a good man, but neither is he the most despicable being they could find.

They spend a few minutes more with a small informal talk, small comments that is what the Diaz gentlemen are dedicated to apart from hosting exchange students, she is a teacher and he is an artist, good quiet and decent professions. Decent people talking with two very wanted criminals among the dimensions in a very homely room, who would say it?

-Oh watch the time, it's almost time for dinner I have to start preparing something ... Would you like to stay for food? -

-We do not want to take advantage of the account of your hospitality, ma'am, it would be better to leave now- Toffee politely rejects the offer, they have stayed longer than they could have imagined.

-In agreement-

\- Have a good trip then gentlemen-

-I accompany you to the door- Marco offers courtesy while his parents go to the kitchen, he also wants to talk to Toffee.

When they reach the door even with Marco limping a little Toffee makes a gesture to Rasticore, a military signal that he learned years ago to retire, the other reptilian has enough good memory to recognize it.

-I go ahead then, goodbye Marco Diaz- Rasticore takes out his saw and opens a portal that crosses.

Toffee also needs a couple of moments of privacy with the young human to clarify some things, but since they are alone it takes a little longer than necessary to talk.

-Well, this ... thanks helping me with the grandulon and looking for my puppies. Although I still do not understand how he could have confused me with a princess yet, if you had not appeared at that moment who knows what would have happened to me - it is Marco who speaks first. A lot of things have happened that day, but I really appreciate that Toffee appeared at the right time.

-It was a lucky coincidence could be said. And as for the confusion of status and gender, Rasticore's recent contractor informed him that you were a princess that he had to eliminate, as he gave me to understand-

-Are you serious?-

"That's right, I even gave her very" compelling "visual material to make you believe that you were a princess-

-What kind of visual material?

-Rasticore showed me a certain image something hard to believe to say it in a way-

-What image?-

-To you and a certain pompous princess pink dress-

\- Dressed pink? - The face of the chestnut shows confusion and does not understand immediately that the reptilian refers, but the more he repeats the word "pink dress" something echoes in his mind and certain memories arise in his mind .

"... pink suits you"

-Oh, Oh! - The only time it was related to a pink princess dress was when they infiltrated Sta. Olga to rescue the unicorn head that was Star's best friend.

At that time and even now feels very safe about his sexuality as being ashamed for having been dressed as a princess, what mattered besides was infiltrating that school that could well go through jail washes brains and rescue Ponyhead so that the pity Someone seeing it with such attire will affect it. But this is different, very different, Toffee is not a deranged director, a guard or a lot of princesses that she had to cheat with her disguise, it was ... Toffee, and that simple fact makes her feel like her face and ears get hot more can not and knows that is so red in the face that could compete with the color of his sweatshirt.

-I will take that reaction as an affirmation that this really happened and that Rasticore was not given a fake photo-

-Photo? What photo? Please do not tell me someone took me a picture with that dress on-

For a brief moment Toffee was so tempted to laugh, a small laugh, but only curves a bit the corners of his mouth in an almost imperceptible smile, the young man in front of him looks funny in his panic and grief.

It's been a long time since he had fun with these simple things, like seeing the expression full of grief and embarrassment of a person caught in an embarrassing moment, Marco with that blush seemed ... adorable.

But remember that if the photo is true it is also the problem in which Marco is involved and which includes hiring a mercenary like Rasticore.

\- That's right, I will not question your ... tastes, but someone used that image to make Rasticore believe that you were a princess and go after your head-

-Pleasures? I do not usually dress as a girl if that's what you wanted to say, and it was an extreme situation. One of Star's friends was hospitalized in Sta. Olga and we went to rescue her, we had to go in disguise so that they would not recognize Star and me ... why are not boys allowed in that school-

\- ... you could have disguised yourself as a guard-

-It's the same as I told Star-

What did the mewmana have on her head to end up dressing the boy as a princess? Surely nothing.

-Then I suppose you at least have some idea of who I'm contracting and why to Rasticore-

-I have the suspicion that it was the director of the place, a very crazy woman obsessed with creating "perfect" princesses instead of letting the girls be independent individuals, if they wanted to be good princesses, you just have to teach them to be good people and not brainwashing them with etiquette and manners-

-I see that you had a very strong impression of the place-

-The woman tied me to a chair and I try to wash my brain with a machine and images of how to be a "perfect princess" when Ponyhead's rescue did not go as we expected-

Again, another proof of why the interaction with mewmana royalty only brings more than problems.

-But I could return the favor by saying it in a way when I managed to convince the other princesses in the school that I was an individual and they created a revolt inside St. Olga-

-You're really full of surprises Marco Diaz-

-Gra ... cias? - Should I take that as a praise or not?

Not anyone would risk that way for a stranger or for someone who is not to your liking, deduced that to hear the tone by which names the best friend of the Princess of Mewni, to enter one of the institutions Safer among the dimensions, not either would be able to convince a group of people with such efficiency to create a revolution practically within said institution. Marco Diaz had leadership skills that perhaps the same guy did not know or did not take advantage of, maybe with a little guidance from someone with experience he could do great things.

-I'll talk with Rasticore and I suggest you take care of your back Marco Diaz, I do not think that director is satisfied to end the source that caused so much rebellion in his school-

-If you were able to hire a guy like Rasticore, I think I'll have to learn to sleep with one eye open-

-Or make your bloodhounds do it for you-

-The puppies?-

-Yes, canine young people who care so much could be useful for your safety and that of your relatives if you get them to train properly-

-If it has crossed my mind to train them but only a couple of tricks, they are still very young, I would not know how to train them for what you say-

-I have some experience training beasts-

-He? -

Has Toffee just suggested what Marco thinks or the brunette is already very tired from the recent adrenaline released that day? I've helped him a lot that day, he does not think he's offering to ...

-I could give you some advice in the training of your young canines-

-That would be very helpful-

Moment, did he just agree to help the little hairy beasts? If Toffee, you had done it, and you sent to fly your idea of leaving behind in the past your interaction with Marco Diaz in the process, if the universe got fogged up in putting you back on your path maybe it was for something, it's not like man Reptil was a faithful philosopher and believer of what some called destiny.

Now I would interact more often with the human beyond what I would have thought. And the hounds, I should not forget the little beasts.


	16. 16

"Where have you been? You disappeared the other day."

"I had some issues to attend to but I know it was very discourteous of me to leave without warning."

Due to the events of the other day, Toffee could not give explanations to the young brunette of his sudden disappearance, it was a fact that they had a mutual commitment to exchange information and for future plans it was vital to respect that agreement.

"That's an extravagant way to apologise. Sometimes, I get tired of that formal way of speaking. Even so, my question wasn't answered. Where did you get to?"

"I did answer ... "

"Ah, ah, ah," the younger one quickly shook her finger from side to side in the form of denial, a somewhat childish and discourteous way of interrupting him in Toffee's opinion, "No ambiguous answers, it was part of our deal. This question also counts or I will do the same when you ask me one of your questions and I will not tell you in which."

Girls, really.

"A problem arose which I ended up involved in. I saw in the distance a suspicious event occurring only to find an old acquaintance who now works as a mercenary attending a business that ... "

"Let me guess, it involved Marco," interrupted the brunette again.

"I suppose that the young Diaz told you what happened."

"No, but I assumed something happened. I saw him limping a bit in class, and I know he didn't have his karate class the day before."

"Do you know his schedule?"

"It's a beginner thing. Now continue please, you still do not finish your explanation."

"I would appreciate if you let me continue talking, and I would appreciate it more if you stopped interrupting me. As I was saying, I met an old acquaintance attending a business, and yes, it did involve the young Diaz. Somebody contracted him to take care of Diaz, in one of the many "adventures" with the Princess of Mewni he created his own enemies. I managed to convince my acquaintance that his contractor had probably set a trap for him because they gave him some false information about his objective." Toffee had managed to express the facts as clearly as he could without giving certain details that he didn't think were as essential, such as offering to train the puppies with laser eyes or that the information given to Rasticore involved a "Princess Marco".

"Oh," there was no more insistence on more details, intelligent or sarcastic comments. Only the girl looking at him and apparently processing the information.

That bothered him in a certain way. He didn't know the girl for that long, but he already knew that Janna was smarter than she seemed and difficult to predict.

"You found yourself face-to-face with Marco," it was not a question, it was affirmation on the part of the girl in the cap.

"So I did."

"Interesting."

" ... "

"I would've thought it would take longer for you two to come face to face."

"Excuse me?"

"It was just a feeling I had, that it was not just information and my funny comments for which you continued visiting this humble dimension. Oh good, let's continue with our exchange of information, it's your turn."

Sometimes, it was a real mystery what really went through that girl's mind for the lizardman.

In these moments, it was debated if he should feel curiosity or if it was better to forget comments like that as irrelevant.

Maybe, he had the right idea not to tell her that at the end of that incident he had offered to train the canine beasts that the dark-haired human had as companion animals how to defend their owner.

* + * + *

Nature was terrifying, life outside the castle was terrifying. How much time had passed? Months? Years?

Ludo was overreacting in terms of time, but for someone who from one day to another takes your comfortable home and throw a hard life at him every second seems eternal. The only thing that allowed him to continue rising was his remarkable obstinacy and hatred of those who betrayed him like the band of useless and ungrateful minions, Princess Butterfly silly, even though her family always treat him as the least threatening, but especially he had a singular hatred of the lizard man in the elegant suit.

While eating some fish that his new minion brought him, a giant spider that actually presented a great battle to learn who his new boss was. Ludo would show them that he was stronger than they had thought. He would teach them all.

* + * + *

"-The number that you called is out of service, we suggest that you revise the contact again to whoever wants to make the call or try again later-" the fairy's sweet voice spoke in her magic mirror.

With rage she cut short the communication and growled with rage, a behaviour not worthy of a lady but for a considerable time she hadn't received a response from that mercenary and that supposedly had promised almost immediate results. UNACCEPTABLE! They had scammed her!

Was she condemned to have mediocre subordinates? Even the guards at Saint Olga's could not do much when all the princesses revealed themselves at the same time thanks to the source of all her current sorrows, Princess Marco, and even though she was not even an official student of St. Olga's, the girls had already adopted her as an official symbol of their rebellion. If she wanted to restore order and make these noble young women understand that their behaviour was the worst mistake they could commit, she had to set an example to that rebellious princess.

Serious consequences usually happened when you let a princess do what she wants, under that principle this sacred institution had been created, that's why the name St. Olga's had been used to baptise her school.

The one that was once the worst of the princesses, but paid for her sins, each princess should follow her example. Oh, but these last years and new generations were a disaster.

She would make that brown haired princess pay even if it was necessary to do it with her own hands. After all, the saying does go "if you want a job well done, do it yourself".

* + * + * + *

"I did ... I did it! AT LAST! WOOHOOOO!" At last Star had achieved it.

Jumping and shouting from one side to another the princess celebrated her triumph, days she had been up late, several failures she had had, but she never stopped until she succeeded.

And before her was proof of her triumph. The entire wall was shattered by a stampede of unicorns and the doll she had used for practice was trampled to purely wood chips. With this new spell, she insurance that she could end Toffee the next time she faced him head on.

The Princess of Mewni was not alone, as always accompanied by the only knight who kept her company from the first day. On the one hand, he was proud of the achievement of his princess, but on the other hand something did not satisfy him at all.

He was only a simple knight. In spite of his high position among the hierarchy among them, he was still less than any people of the nobility and in his youth he often found it difficult to understand the decisions of these nobles, but the queens always showed that they were there to protect them, to help their people, to make peace prevail in the kingdom. The soldiers were only an extension of their power to achieve this end.

But he was concerned that the princess was not taking on the path in search of peace for her people or her kingdom, she was behaving like a soldier moved by an upcoming battle, and it was common behaviour, but this time it was different, what she was looking for ... that was, revenge.


	17. 17

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Need to edit

It was the weekend, Saturday to be exact, Marco was in the park with all his puppies on his typical walk, although he had a second reason to perform.

Today would be the day he would be with Toffee to train the canines with lasers eyes.

Now sitting on a bench waiting for the lizardman to arrive, this situation was a little surreal, but it did not really bother him, he had already begun to get used to this type of events, all thanks even if he did not want to admit it since he had known Star Butterfly .

Let a little question wander in your mind. What is she doing now?

The sound of footsteps approaching took him out of his train of thoughts involving a certain blonde princess to better focus on the person who was approaching the place where he was, which could only be a person.

Even though his puppies looked really adorable the fact that they still did not control his laser gaze towards how few people approached where he was, he already had a reputation in the dog park of having dogs that caused some other small fire, and Obviously, when that happened, he took charge of the small damages as the responsible owner that he was. So the only person who could be approaching voluntarily in his direction would be the same person who had agreed with him to see himself.

-Hello Toffee- greeting the lizard man when he had it in his field of vision.

-Good morning young Diaz-

-You know you do not have to go that way to me, right? With just Marco, it's fine - the formality the lizard man spoke to was still something he was not used to, he spoke with much more courtesy and manners than he had ever seen anyone do, and that he had interacted with people from the nobility as they were the Butterfly or the queen of the fairies.

It was not unpleasant, I just was not used to it, and if they were going to interact more I felt that they had to decrease the formalities a bit.

-I will try to make an effort ... Marco- the reptilian agreed not letting his doubt in accepting the proposal of the young chestnut tree.

Speaking with a certain formality was not only due to habit or care of good manners, by acting in this way despite interacting with some person managed to maintain a certain barrier between him and the person with whom he was dealing, could he maintain those barriers now?

-And what are you wearing? -

-I did not expect you to have eyesight problems ... Marco, I'm wearing my suit-

-Yes, I see what you are wearing but why? -

-The people in a modern society use clothes to cover their nakedness, and I know that the individuals of your dimension do the same, with the exception of some places or communities more "liberal" to put it in some way-

"What?" Marco could not understand the last thing the reptilian said, what did he mean?

-In simple words, what's wrong with my dress? -

-It is elegant, but not very suitable for a day at the park, especially if we come to train eight unruly puppies. Maybe you should have come with something more practical, maybe? -

Marco was right, a suit jacket and dress pants, a shirt with a tie and black shoes completing the set was not exactly ideal if you wanted to train a lot of hairy beasts with little developed intelligence.

-I had some issues to attend before meeting our agreed appointment, so I did not have the time I would have estimated in advance to come with a dress more suitable for the occasion as you mention. Even so, I can assure you that my way of dressing will not affect my performance when it comes to training your little beasts-

-Oh ok? So, do we start now? Can I help you in something or how will you start with the training of the puppies? -

I was not going to deny that I was curious about asking where I had been before I got there, the lizard man although I had shared very valuable and intimate information with him previously about his past did not mean that they had enough confidence to inquire more than what They were allowed as acquaintances, dear, their relationship can be really confusing at this point if you think about it.

They are not enemies, were they ever?

At least they were not now, but what were they?

-The best thing is that your dogs can not be co-founded at the beginning of their training if more than one intervenes-

-They have names-

-Excuse?-

-The puppies, they have names-

But of course the little beasts would have names, surely Princess Butterfly would have been responsible for placing some strange title to these little creatures. On the one hand it would help if these dogs already knew how to respond to a name when giving orders, but would refuse to use it if it was something as cheesy or stupid as was common in the mentality of the current owner of the wand.

\- And what would be their names? -

-Sajak, Badi, Shakti, Kalet, Alrik, Enam, Dai and Hugo-

Those did not really sound like childish and silly names.

\- Those names are ... -

-I know they sound a little strange, but they are names from different parts of the world, some of the students that stayed at my house shared some of them-

He knew that out of his house anyone would seem strange or silly the names he gave to the puppies, while some would settle for Sparky, Bola de Nieve or names they saw on TV he wanted to give some meaning to their names, I could only imagine that for a culture of another dimension those names were probably extremely strange, when Star heard them they said they were bored but the dogs already responded very well to them and not to their frustrated attempts to call them Cherry, Berry or things like that .

-I was about to say they were interesting names-

-Excuse me for interrupting then- said sorry the youngest

-Do they answer correctly when calling them? -

-Of course, they also know the odd trick. Simple things like orders like rolling and giving the leg, although they do not follow them always if they are very excited or distracted-

-It is good to know that they have learned basic things- I praise the Septarian as he began to undo his coat.

-Yes, although I still do not know how to do to handle your laser beams ... What are you doing? -

-As you mentioned my clothes are not the best for a task that involves training small beasts like these, and although it is a resistant material I would prefer not to risk damaging it unnecessarily- Toffee said as he placed as carefully as possible his sack in the bank that had busy Marco previously.

Now that he remembered it, the eldest was very smart and neat with his appearance and his belongings, he had placed his sack in a safe place the time he had kidnapped him a few moments before Princess Butterfly entered the large dining room where they were and launched a lightning that had literally disappeared from his arm. He probably appreciated those suits very much, something like him and his red sweatshirts.

It would be very interesting to see it in a more casual way.

-Okay, I'll take care of your bag then while I see you train-

-I would appreciate it if it is like that-

After removing his tie and rolling up his sleeves, Marco began to witness Toffee training his puppies, obviously not expecting his little canines to begin to obey blindly and without problems the imposing lizardman who stood before them, but was surprised by a little to see it that way, with such a dominant and authoritarian aura, and despite the fact that this image was directed to a group of small puppies I could imagine him perfectly standing in the same way in front of an army who would obey his orders without questioning him, he seemed to have experience giving orders .

Well, as I imagine the puppies did not obey immediately, but neither were they as unruly or distracted as I would have imagined they would be in their first class. Probably they recognized him from the day Rasticore attacked them.

Toffee measured how much they could follow his instructions, his level of attention and patience, with results that did not satisfy him at all but he did not complain loudly but his expression was not satisfied was what Marco needed to say that the reptilian would have to use a lot more patience in training than you might have thought at the beginning. As I said before, they were puppies after all.

Still a little endearing the image of this reptile man of almost two meters looking directly into the eyes of one of the puppies (which was not really recommended if the puppy throws uncontrollably laser rays through the eyes) to follow a new order that in this case it was to stay still.

Would Toffee be upset if he were to take out his cell phone to take a picture?

Moment ... where had that Marco thought come from? Better pay attention to how the training continued and then ...

A noise was heard in one of the nearby trees and a squirrel seemed like the best time to go out to look for food, it had not necessarily come down from the tree it was in but because it was already visible and had made noises the dogs immediately ignored his instructor and they put their full attention on the rodent, that's how the chaos began.

The calm with which they were working had been destroyed by barking and running around when the squirrel leaped from branch to branch, which is what dogs and puppies do when they normally see an object they consider of total interest, perhaps something rooted in their basic instincts or DNA that drives them to try to "hunt" something that looks like a prey, and it would not be such a serious problem but we are talking about puppies that throw rays through the eyes at the least excitement and there in front of them there was something that excited them too.

Marco was not close but Toffee, even with his good reflexes, could not escape from the rays of the puppies that started jumping from one side to the other when they saw the poor squirrel running away in the treetops nearby, at least this time there was no fires, and really their rays were not so painful when you got used to them, they did not have enough power to generate a really serious damage to the skin, but talking about clothes was something else.

He had had to patch several of his pants and sweatshirts in these months due to incidents similar to this in his first walks with the puppies, now Toffee had been a victim more of the magical canine euphoria of his dogs.

-Toffee your shirt, I'm sorry. I should have warned you before-

There were a couple of holes in the elegant shirt of Toffee, in the arms that I use as a reflection as a shield to prevent some rays from hitting his body completely.

\- There is no need to apologize, when you accept to train your beasts contemplate the possibility that something similar would happen besides the unforeseen events can always happen. It is not your fault, Marco said the elder while checking the damage of his clothes, they were not really huge holes or irreparable things, even so I was contemplating the possibility of getting rid of this garment.

-At least let me compensate you and fix your shirt if you allow me, I have a small sewing kit for emergencies like this with me. I already have experience in this kind of thing-

-I accept then- the look in those worried brown eyes made him accept, he was not angry at all with the animals or the state of his clothes at the moment, but he had realized that the human showed genuine concern about what happened. How to refuse that look?

Without waiting for instructions, the older man began to remove the shirt he was wearing, unbuttoned the buttons without leaving a chest and muscular abdomen exposed.

"Here you are," said Toffee, extending the garment, the entire upper part of his body uncovered.

Oh ... did all that hide under those clothes?

\- Does something Marco happen? -

-I nothing! It will not take long to fix it umm can you try to reassure the puppies in the meantime? Usually calling them with their names works-

-I'll take care of them-

While Toffee returned to the small pack of unruly puppies Marco took out his sewing kit and tried to calm down a little, he did not know why he had got nervous. I had seen good muscles like that before on TV, at home and even at school with sports team guys, but seeing Toffee's body had surprised him a bit.

He did not know if it was again because of his insecure mentality, because he admitted that he was not very happy with various physical and character aspects of his person, which sometimes made him react with something of shyness or envy with safer people. themselves or simply did not know what to expect to find after the lizardman took off his shirt.

He knew that most of the monsters he had encountered looked very anthropomorphic in several cases, even a couple of Ludo's henchmen fought shirtless when confronted with Star, but seeing Toffee shirtless was like suffering a short circuit suddenly because it was a very different image in many ways.

On the one hand he always looked elegant with his classes or even just wearing his shirt when training the puppies, and it would never have occurred to him how similar or different the anatomy of the older one would be, normally if you think of reptiles you do not think of muscles, maybe all this time it had been rude on their part to constantly think of Toffee as one despite sharing several similarities with one, after all humans were primates but they were not a reflection of monkeys.

Toffee was a physically elegant monster with a good physique, even with a muscular but agile body.

Another thing to add to your list of things you did not know about the greatest or the monsters even.

As the saying goes, every day you learn something new.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> * Those who did not understand one of Toffee's comments, he was referring to indigenous tribes that really walk naked because they do not care about public nudity until the beaches and nudist communities in some parts of the world, and yes, Toffee was taken the tedious annoyance of investigating the place where the Princess Butterfly lived and its cultures and customs, at least those that were close to where she lived (eh heard that there are nudist communities in california among other parts of the US), to the point that she knows more about human world than the princess herself being that she lived in this for months.  
> * The names take them from different places in the world, except Sajak who was the only one who heard Marco say to one of his dogs. I thought that if there were several foreign students exchange students in your house before Star you probably learned a word or two and how they liked the way they sounded they put them to their dogs.  
> * As expected from the security guy is always ready. If the young person already knows how to cook, take care of pets and babies, I really would not be surprised if he knew how to knit and sew.


End file.
